PrintMay 5, 2009
France takes first place in avg. hours of sleep
Why bother to wake up when there are few jobs and when a wage earner is taxed so heavily to support a welfare state? Look at France, where people with no need to rouse themselves sleep longer than any other group of people in the industrialized world.
David Gauthier-Villars reports in the Wall Street Journal:
When he won the presidential election two years ago, Nicolas Sarkozy urged the French to get up early and work more to earn more.A study released Monday suggests they missed the wake-up call.France is the industrialized country where people spend the longest periods sleeping, according to a series of surveys on social habits conducted by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development.
Once a statist culture prevails in a nation -- especially one where religion is downgraded as a source of eternal virtues -- it becomes very difficult to restore the old values.
