Time dedicated to sleep in Mexican population, associated characteristics

Abstract

Human metabolism is tightly related to the circadian cycle, intervening in physiological processes such as sleeping and eating, which are essential for the regulation of the behavior. Adequate time to sleep daily, avoid physical, emotional and social environment damage, besides being essential and necessary for the homeostasis of the body. The collected data from National Survey on the Use of Time in 2009 (enut-2009) applied by Instituto Nacional de las Mujeres (inm) and Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (inegi), show the sleeping time results analyzed in Mexican population from 12 years and older. The sample includes a total of 57 918 people, of which 48.5 % are men and 51.5 % are women. The considered dependent variable was the weekly time dedicated to sleep. Different socio-demographic factors that could influence the sleeping time were also included, such as: marital status, education level, residence place, employment status and kinship at home. The statistical results tests found that women, young, old, single, separated, widowed, people living in rural areas and lower levels of schooling, sleep significantly longer compared to other population groups.