WASHINGTON (AP) -- Getting a good night's sleep is hard for many adults and that often means poorer health, lower productivity on the job, more danger on the roads and a less vibrant sex life, according to a report released Tuesday.

"By 3 to 4 in the afternoon, I'm starting to feel brain-drained and I need that caffeine to pick me back up again," said Becky Mcerien, 50, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

She gets about 6.5 hours of sleep a night -- slightly less than the adult average of 6.9 hours reported by the National Sleep Foundation.

Many experts say adults need a minimum of seven to nine hours of sleep a night.

A poll for the foundation indicates that three-quarters of adults say they frequently have a sleep problem, such as waking during the night or snoring.

Most people ignore the problem, and few think they actually have one. Only half of those polled were able to say they slept well on most nights.

"I get what I need to function," said Guillermo Sardina, 55, of Hamilton, New Jersey, who averages six or seven hours a night. "I sleep through the night. I'm a sound sleeper. ... I don't even remember my dreams."

One-fourth of adults say sleep problems have some effect on their daily lives.

Richard Gelula, the foundation's CEO, said there's a link between sleep and quality of life.

"People who sleep well, in general, are happier and healthier," he said. "But when sleep is poor or inadequate, people feel tired or fatigued, their social and intimate relationships suffer, work productivity is negatively affected, and they make our roads more dangerous by driving while sleepy and less alert."

Symptoms of a sleep problem include difficulty falling asleep, waking a lot during the night, waking up too early and not being able to get back to sleep, waking up feeling unrefreshed, snoring, unpleasant feelings in the legs or pauses in breathing.

Darwin McCallian, 51, of Burke, Virginia, wakes up at 4 a.m. so he can get a head start on his work day and says he sometimes gets drowsy during his commute into Washington. "When I sleep in a little bit longer, it makes me a safer driver," said McCallian, who gets six to eight hours of sleep a night.

It's not just how much sleep a person gets, but the quality of sleep that matters, the report said.

Some of the nation's sleep habits can be attributed to an always-on-the-go society, said Chris Drake, senior scientist at the Henry Ford Hospital Sleep Center in Detroit, Michigan, and co-chairman of the 2005 poll task force.

"In an increasing 24-hour society, people are staying up much later," he said. "They can go to a 24-hour pharmacy or supermarket. They can do anything at any time of the night and day. That can impact on people's decisions to stay up later watching TV, doing work, being on the Internet."

Mary Cuffee, 64, of Washington, says she stays up watching TV and has a stressful job. For her, seven hours of sleep aren't enough. She says she needs at least 10.

The study found:

The foundation and many sleep experts recommend avoiding alcohol and caffeine close to bedtime. The group also recommends that adults pay attention to how much sleep they get and the quality of that sleep, and seek help if needed.

The National Sleep Foundation is a nonprofit organization that lobbies Congress and state governments on public health and safety issues surrounding sleep disorders and deprivation, including drowsy driving and school start times. It receives its financing from the sleep products industry, pharmaceutical companies, other corporate sponsors, physicians, clinics and sleep centers.

The poll, conducted by WB&A Market Research, used a random sample of 1,506 adults who were interviewed by phone between September 20 and November 7, 2004. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

SURVEY SAYS

Findings from a poll by the National Sleep Foundation: When disturbed by a bed partner's problems, the other partner loses an average of 49 minutes of sleep a night -- or 300 hours a year. One-third of adults say they have problems in their relationship because of their partner's abnormal sleep. 26 percent of respondents are at risk for sleep apnea -- or pauses in breathing during sleep. More than half of respondents nap at least once a week; one-third report napping two or more times. Older respondents are more likely to report getting a good night's sleep every night or almost every night. Males are more likely than females to say that they get more sleep than they need (49 percent compared with 37 percent); while females are more likely than males to say that they get the same or less sleep than they need (63 percent compared with 51 percent). 47 percent report that on weeknights they stay up later than they planned or wanted to stay up at least a few nights a week.

Taken from CNN. Tuesday, March 29, 2005 Posted: 11:09 AM EST (1609 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Black and Asian women with bachelor's degrees earn slightly more than similarly educated white women, and white men with four-year degrees make more than anyone else.

A white woman with a bachelor's degree typically earned nearly $37,800 in 2003, compared with nearly $43,700 for a college-educated Asian woman and $41,100 for a college-educated black woman, according to data being released Monday by the Census Bureau. Hispanic women took home slightly less at $37,600 a year.

The bureau did not say why the differences exist. Economists and sociologists suggest possible factors: the tendency of minority women, especially blacks, to more often hold more than one job or work more than 40 hours a week, and the tendency of black professional women who take time off to have a child to return to the work force sooner than others.

Employers in some fields may give extra financial incentives to young black women, who graduate from college at higher rates than young black men, said Roderick Harrison, a researcher at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank that studies minority issues.

"Given the relative scarcity, if you are a woman in the sciences -- if you are a black woman -- you would be a rare commodity," Harrison said.

Because study in the area is limited, it is hard to pinpoint specific reasons, said Barbara Gault, research director at the Washington-based Institute for Women's Policy Research.

"It could be the fields that educated black women are choosing," she said. "It also could be related to the important role that black women play in the total family income in African-American families.

Notions that black women are struggling financially as much other groups are should not be dismissed, Gault added.

For instance, nearly 39 percent of families headed by a single black woman were in poverty, compared with 21 percent of comparable white women, according to census estimates released last year.

A white male with a college diploma earns far more than any similarly educated man or woman -- in excess of $66,000 a year, according to the Census Bureau. Among men with bachelor's degrees, Asians earned more than $52,000 a year, Hispanics earned $49,000 and blacks earned more than $45,000.

Workplace discrimination and the continuing difficulties of minorities to get into higher-paying management positions could help explain the disparities among men, experts say.

Demographics may offer an explanation: There are millions more college-educated white men in better paying jobs than there are black, Hispanic or Asian men.

Minorities also suffered more financially as a result of the 2001 recession and its aftermath, as has been the case with past economic downturns, said Jared Bernstein, chief economist with the Economic Policy Institute.

The figures come from the Census Bureau's annual look at educational achievement in America, culled from a survey in March 2004. Questions about income were asked for the previous calendar year.

Regardless of race or gender, a college graduate on average earned over $51,000, compared with $28,000 for someone with only a high school diploma or an equivalent degree. College-educated men typically made $63,000, compared with $33,000 for men with just a high school education.

Among women, a college graduate earned more than $38,000, compared with nearly $22,000 for a high school graduate.

The data also showed that:

AVERAGE 2003 EARNINGS

Men Women White 66,390 37,761 Black 45,635 41,066 Asian 52,508 43,656 Hispanic 49,298 37,550 All 63,084 38,447 Source: Census Bureau