In order to get the facts about Sleep we sent a question sheet to a large number of persons selected by classes. We began with a thousand professors in order to get suggestions which might make the investigation more useful. The following request was sent out:

Please Fill Out and Return—

We shall be glad to supply additional copies of this slip upon request—we desire the largest number of replies possible and it is hoped the scientific interest of the subject will lead you to aid us in procuring them.

• Age Weight Height Health
• Married?
• Do you sleep well?
• How many waking hours in bed?
• How many hours’ sleep on an average, and at what times?
• What do you consider sufficient for yourself?
• Any difference during vacations?
• Do you use any means or devices for inducing sleep?
• Similar observations on members of your family, if any?
• Are your dreams usually rational or fantastic, pleasant or unpleasant?
• Do you have nightmare?
• Are you given to worry?
• Does physical, especially agricultural, work relieve this?
• Do you take artificial exercise, or does your work involve exercise?
• Appetite good? Simple diet or elaborate?
• Is the “sleep of the laboring man sweet” in reality?
• Name
• Profession
• Address

No scientifically complete tabulation and study of data has yet been made on Sleep.

Moffat, Yard & Company is publishing a book entitled “The Gift of Sleep,” by Bolton Hall. For the purpose of this book it is desired to obtain full information concerning the amount of sleep needed by individuals in different walks of life, the circumstances under which the soundest and most restful sleep is obtained, and the amount necessary for individuals.

You will confer a great favor if you will fill out this sheet and return to the publisher.

Yours very truly,
Moffat, Yard & Company,
31 East Seventeenth Street,
New York.

ADDITIONAL REMARKS

At the date of going to press we have not received answers sufficient in number to warrant very definite statements in regard to sleep and dreams. A thorough report must be reserved for a later edition. Nor was the time sufficient for the very considerable labor of examining and tabulating the replies. It appears, however, that about one person in thirty regards himself as a poor sleeper, and only two others in thirty will say they sleep only fairly well. About three persons out of five report that they spend no time in wakefulness in bed; the remaining two persons spend from fifteen minutes to five or six hours each, the average among this group being one hour and ten minutes per person per night. Among professors in our leading universities the prevailing hour for retiring is between 10 and 11 o’clock; four-fifths of this group say they retire either at 10, 10.30, or 11 o’clock; but this class of people retire on the average about one-half hour later than persons of the other classes from whom we have received replies.

The average duration of sleep is, roughly, seven and one-half hours. One-third of all replies gave eight hours as the length of sleep; and the professors are inclined to sleep a slightly longer period than those in the other occupations taken together.

The age of the individuals seemed to have no effect on the averages of the daily amount of time spent in sleep. Persons under the age of forty differed in no marked degree from persons over forty either in length of sleep or frequency of dreaming. There is general agreement on the point that they get just enough sleep, and that vacations make only a slight increase. The data is not yet sufficient to justify a conclusion as to the average time of sleep at different ages.

In reference to dreams, about 15 per cent. report that they do not dream, and about 30 per cent. say they dream “rarely,” “seldom,” or “occasionally.” We are disposed to question these returns on the ground that they give an impression that dreams are less frequent than they really are. The investigations of most experimenters who have made special studies of dreams seem rather to show that the number of our dream-experiences grows as soon as we give our attention to them, just as, on a clear night, a hasty glance at the sky may reveal many stars, but a steady gaze reveals very many more.

Our returns are interesting as to the character of the dreams. The favorite adjective used to describe dreams was “rational.” A lesser number of persons said their dreams were “pleasant,” less still that they were “fantastic.” Three times as many persons describe their dreams as pleasant than those who describe them as generally unpleasant. Either Professor Freud’s conclusion is correct, that we tend to forget unpleasant experiences more readily than pleasant ones, or else the dreams really afforded more pleasurable than they did disagreeable feelings. The most typical combination used to describe the nature of the individual’s dream-life was that it was “rational and pleasant.” Less than one-third of all the answerers confessed to having ever experienced nightmare.

It should be observed that thus far we have encountered a group of replies from persons who, as a group, are remarkably healthy, normal, and fairly free from worry. Particularly, worry does not seem to be a vice of professors, as only 8 per cent. confess to it. About 17 per cent. of them say they need more physical exercise than they get, which is mostly walking. There is also a gratifying unanimity as to good appetite, simple diet, and absence of need for artificial means of inducing sleep.