A good night’s sleep ranks far above attending church as a favorite activity, a nationwide poll shows.
The Barna Group asked more than 1,000 adults to say how much they looked forward to any of 17 activities, ranging from sleeping to completing tax forms. Seven out of 10 – 71 percent – of respondents said they relished the thought of getting enough sleep. That contrasted with 40 percent who said they looked forward “a lot” to attending church services, which was the fourth most appealing activity.
Tucked between sleep and church attendance were spending time with friends (55 percent) and listening to music (54 percent).
Although sleep outranked church attendance, researchers found that reading the Bible scored higher than reading a novel for pleasure. Nearly one-third (31 percent) of those surveyed said they really looked forward to Bible reading, compared to 25 percent who cited reading novels.
Among the activities people seemed to find least appealing were shopping for clothing (16 percent), having a doctor’s examination (14 percent) and filling out tax forms (11 percent).
David Kinnaman, vice president of the Barna Group, said the data reveal how busy Americans are.
“The pace of life, the acceleration of all of the things that we have to do as Americans, is just incredible,” he said. “So sleep becomes one of those few areas that provides kind of a mini-sanctuary for people.”
The telephone survey by the Ventura, Calif.-based marketing firm included 1,005 adults nationwide and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.