Bed Alert: Americans Setting Alarms Even Earlier this Year for Shopping on Black Friday

Heading to the mall for Black Friday shopping this year? Two in three Americans say, “Not in your dreams.”

According to a just-released national survey commissioned by sleep tips website SleepBetter.org and conducted by Ipsos, 67 percent of U.S. shoppers say they will not be shopping the day after Thanksgiving. But for those who are, Black Friday will start when it’s still black outside. Fifty percent of shoppers say they will be up by 6 a.m. (up from 41% last year), with one in six (17%) rising before 4 a.m. (5 percentage points higher than 2009).

If Americans are looking to catch up on their sleep over the long Thanksgiving weekend, it won’t be on Turkey Day itself. Despite the gobbler’s legendary sleep-inducing affects – known to send Uncle Barney to snoozeville long before the second half kickoff – almost two-thirds of Americans (64%) say they do not nap on Thanksgiving, although strangely enough, almost as many (57%) knows someone who does nod off. One in seven Americans say they snooze between 30 and 60 minutes, while 9 percent say their siesta lasts more than an hour. Not surprisingly perhaps, more women (69%) than men (60%) say they do not nap on Thanksgiving Day.

“This survey knocks the stuffing out of some long-held myths about Thanksgiving – that most people take Turkey Day naps, perhaps resting up for a full day of shopping the following day,” said Dan Schecter, vice president of consumer products at Carpenter Co., and creator of SleepBetter.org. “In fact, neither is widely true. While most Americans maintain their sleep patterns over the holiday weekend, the allure of big discounts on Black Friday is enough to get many out of the sack earlier and earlier. The number getting up before 6 a.m. is up by nine percentage points this year over last, and those getting up before 4 a.m. spiked by 5 percent. Even so, most of us would rather sleep in that day than try to find parking.”

Many Americans who will be on the road over Thanksgiving weekend put a premium on a good night’s sleep. To ensure a restful night, one in four (26%) say they bring their own bedding or pillow with them when traveling. Along the same lines, one in 10 (10%) book a room at a hotel rather than stay with relatives or friends who may not provide sufficiently comfortable sleeping arrangements.

“One quarter of Americans are ‘have pillow, will travel,’ underscoring just how integral our favorite pillow is to getting a good night’s sleep,” Schecter said. “Our bodies really want no surprises at bedtime, and bringing along your own pillow goes a long way toward making sure you get the kind of night’s rest you need. Many people find that they get particularly tired over the holidays, which is our bodies’ way of reminding us that sleep should be a priority, even with major sales starting at the crack of dawn.”

Survey Methodology
A nationally representative sample of 1,000 Americans was interviewed by telephone via Ipsos’ U.S. Telephone Express omnibus from October 28 through October 31, 2010. With a sample of this size, the results are considered accurate within ± 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population of adults in the U.S. been polled. The margin of error will be larger within regions and for other sub-groupings of the survey population. These data were weighted to ensure the sample’s regional and age/gender composition reflects that of the actual U.S. population according to date from the U.S. Census Bureau.