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We're not getting enough sleep, and we're paying the price.

The National Sleep Foundation Poll, released today, finds that people say they're much or somewhat more likely to make mistakes, get impatient or aggravated when waiting, or get upset with their children or others when they haven't gotten enough sleep.

SF Gate's inane headline is "Sleep habits leave Americans tubby, grouchy," as one fourth of people polled said they were more likely to overeat when they hadn't gotten enough sleep. Way to sensationalize, folks. Couldn't you have worked a celebrity in? Also, adults in the Western U.S. were more likely to get 8 hours of sleep on weekdays than those in the rest of the country -- secrets of the mellow revealed.

Stanley Coren covered some similar territory in Sleep Thieves.

As a society we are all chronically sleep deprived. For example, what do the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, the near melt down at Three Mile Island, the environmentally disastrous oil spill by the Exxon Valdez, and the loss of the NASA space shuttle Challenger all have in common? They were all caused by people who were making mistakes because they had had too little sleep. Coren not only reviews the scientific information about sleep in a lively and interesting way, but also presents some first hand interviews with people whose jobs or life style forces them to lose sleep.

So make the world a better place. Get enough sleep tonight.