PHILADELPHIA, June 20 (UPI) -- People who have perceived being racially discriminated against are more likely than others to experience sleep difficulties, U.S. researchers say.
Lead author Michael A. Grandner, a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, says the study involved an analysis of data from the 2006 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Grandner and colleagues analyzed responses from more than 7,000 people in Michigan and Wisconsin, who were asked, "Within the past 12 months when seeking healthcare, do you feel your experiences were worse than, the same as, or better than for people of other races?"
Respondents were classified as having sleep disturbance if they reported having difficulty sleeping at least six nights in the past two weeks, Grander says.
"This study found that an environmental stressor that exists purely at the social level -- perceived racial discrimination -- had a hand in how likely a person was to experience disturbed sleep," Grandner says in a statement. "The most surprising finding in this study was that individuals who perceived racial discrimination were more likely to experience sleep difficulties, and it did not matter if they were black or white, men or women, rich or poor, or even if they were otherwise depressed or not, since these were adjusted for in the statistical analysis."
The finding was presented at Sleep the meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
