The engine of family is sacrifice - prioritizing our schedules, our interests, often even our own health, to meet the needs of those who depend on us the most.
And nobody understands these sacrifices more than single parents.
However, a new study reveals that single parents - mothers in particular - are undercutting their own long-term health in favor of more immediate family demands.
As reported on Huffington Post and NJ.com, single parents - mothers in particular - consistently have both the least and lowest quality sleep, 43 percent of single moms and 37 percent of single dads, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.
According to Huffington Post, this study is especially important as the increasing number of single-parent households continues to rise, and while traditional health studies about single-parent families have tended to focus on the well-being of children, experts are increasing their attention toward the adults in the equation.
NJ.com also noted that, when it comes to sleep, women seemed to come up short across the board.
"Women of all family types were more likely than men, in the same
family type, to have more trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, and
to frequently wake feeling not well-rested," according to the CDC survey.
You can access the complete CDC report here.