According to surveys conducted by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) spanning the years 1999 to 2004, an estimated 40 million Americans suffer from as many as 70 different types of sleep disorders. The surveys also found that 60 percent of American adults admit to experiencing one sleeping problem or another more than once a week.

While the requirement for sleep tends to vary from person to person, the average healthy adult needs seven to eight hours of sleep per night. While the body is asleep, it is given the opportunity to recharge its worn down batteries, recover from the day's events (like the grueling two hour board meeting with your toughest clients), and sufficiently recuperate.