n and proceed to endure as long as sixteen-hour days, only to return at sunset to provide for a family and maybe have a chance to get a few hours of sleep. The invention of the light bulb by Thomas Edison only worsened the problem. Now, to the delight of factory owners, the working classes could work extended schedules, night shifts, and rotating shifts by the light of the new bulb. These same practices occur today in addition to 24-hour access of televisions, computers and the internet, stores of all kinds, and public entertainment.
             It is documented that the average human adult needs about eight hours of sleep every night. However, the percentage that actually gets this amount is fearfully low. "Over the past century, Americans have reduced their average total nightly sleep by more than twenty percent, or two hours a night," says Zimmer (4). For some people lack of sleep is caused by their own robbery of it from themselves, for some it is circumstances being control...for others it is disorders and/or a condition called insomnia which deprives them.
             The ones that cheat themselves from a good night¹s rest have all the power in the world to correct their problem, but may not know what is happening and that something needs to change. This trend is
             caused by overachieving and trying to get 30 hours of productivity from a
             24 hour day. Macho men ("I don¹t need any more than five hours of sleep to be just fine"), and ignorant adolescents who would rather talk on the phone until three a.m. because it¹s "just not cool to sleep a lot" are some of the worst offenders. Zammit puts this idea into laymen¹s terms when he says "We steal hours from our sleep for work or play" (4). The decision of calling it a day or to keep working until you are finished is one that most people make daily. The choice to spend time doing other things instead of giving your body and mind the rest that is ne
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