Are We Waking From The American Dream?

Most American workers don't use all their vacation days. That was the finding of two 2011 surveys. Hotwire, the discount travel website, surveyed approximately 2,000 adults and found the average employee left 6.2 paid vacation days unused at the end of the year. A survey conducted for JetBlue Airline found 57% of about 1,000 employees didn't use all their vacation days. That survey also found the amount of unused days averaged 11 and 33% of employees were afraid to ask for vacation in a time of job insecurity. It seems employees have become workhorses corralled by the economy.

America ranked 20th out of 21 developed countries in parental leave. That was according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research in 2008. In 2011 Human Rights Watch criticized America for being decades behind other countries in parental leave. According to the Census Bureau, about 50% of first-time mothers between 2006 and 2008 received some type of paid maternity leave. About 43% took unpaid leave and 14% took a combination of both. Considering in the early 1980's 37.3% of first-time mothers got some type of paid leave, progress has been in "baby steps".

Forty percent of Americans who work as police officers have sleeping disorders, such as insomnia and sleep apnea. These officers were 63% likelier to violate safety protocols, 51% likelier to fall asleep while driving, 43% likelier to make administrative errors and 22% likelier to be injured on the job. They received 35% more citizen complaints too. The study also illustrated the connection between sleep apnea and obesity. Thirty-four percent of the officers reported having sleep apnea and 34% reported being obese - although some had one condition and not the other. Keep this information in mind if you get a ticket - don't ask the officer to "sleep on it".

More than 20% of American adults took at least 1 anxiety or depression medication in 2010. That's according to Medco Health Solutions Inc. and based on 2.5 million patients. Drugs for behavioral and psychiatric disorders were most often prescribed for women age 45 and older. In fact, women were twice as likely as men to take anxiety medications. About 23% of the population in Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and Alabama used at least 1 behavioral or psychiatric drug. However, less than 15% of the population in Indiana, Ohio, Wisconsin and Michigan used them. They were in better "states of mind".