28 Marathons for New Parents

It’s always been  source of great fodder for comedians, the plight of new parents. The sleep deprivation leading to all sorts of out of character behavior is often funny when described by a third person. However a sleep technology brand, Simba, has commissioned a study that makes us more aware and perhaps sympathetic to new parents.

The study has concluded that in the first year after the birth of the infant, the parents get 59% less sleep than what is required or recommended as the 8 hours a night average. This is a short fall of about 50 nights of sleep in the year. Also the primary care giver of the child will spend about 54 minutes on average in the day trying to get their infant to sleep. That’s another 14 days.

In addition rocking their baby and walking the floor to get the baby to sleep usually adds up to about two miles each day. That’s like walking 730 miles in the year, which is also the equivalent of 28 marathons. The baby also tends to wake up three times a night on average in the first few months. This takes an emotional toll on the relationship of the new parents.

Most common behavior deficiencies due to lack of sleep and exhaustion are hallucinations and forgetting what they were saying in the middle of a sentence. This science project recommends that the next time you see new parents, don’t laugh if you see them behaving slightly unusually. They really are too tired to know better.