COLONIE – What came first – little sleep or lots of coffee?
According to a recent poll of daily habits by the Siena College Research Institute, just 24 percent of New Yorkers get eight or more hours of sleep while 48 percent sleep not more than six hours a night.
On the flip side, 62 percent of respondents say they are coffee drinkers and 42 percent say they have to have a cup of joe to start every day. Sixty percent have more than one cup a day.
“Older New Yorkers are more likely to get eight hours of beauty rest than younger residents,” said SCRI Director Don Levy. “Residents between 35 and 49, and those with kids in the home, are less likely to enjoy that full night’s sleep.”
Fifty-eight percent of New Yorkers say they check their email, text messages or social media accounts within the first hour of waking up. Twenty-two percent check immediately after they wake up. Three quarters check these accounts at least once a day with 57 percent checking more than once a day.
“New Yorkers have fully integrated technology into their daily habits,” Levy said. “And it isn’t your imagination, virtually everyone is checking their email, texting or keeping up with social media throughout the day.
Just 10 percent of New Yorkers do not check their digital footprint on a daily basis, Levy said, and half or those are more than 65 years old.
Other findings include:
-70 percent laugh out loud at least once a day.
-62 percent think about money on a daily basis.
-60 percent of the respondents do something nice for another person each day.
-51 percent floss every day while 15 percent never floss.
-Half of the respondents take vitamins daily and 32 percent never do.
-Half take time to have a relaxed meal with family or friends while 7 percent never do.
-Just 14 percent of New Yorkers weigh themselves.
-27 percent make a to do list.
-29 percent exercise for at least 30 minutes a day.
“A quarter of us never exercise and a quarter of us never pray or meditate, but virtually all of us do laugh out loud at least once in a while,” Levy said. “But six out of ten of us think about money each day. And many of us spend a lot of our time thinking about and planning our to-do list.”
The poll was conducted March 1 through March 29 by random telephone calls to 802 New York adults via landline and cell phones. Respondent sampling was initiated by asking for the youngest male in the household.
The margin of error is +/- 4.4 percent.
