How much do humans sleep in a lifetime?

According to the National Institutes of Health, an average human spends about one third of his life sleeping. Assuming an average human life span of 78 years, that equates to about 26 years each person spends sleeping in his lifetime.

LiveScience states that as of 2006, 25 percent of Americans use some form of sleeping aid at night. The number of adults aged 20 to 44 that reported using sleeping pills also doubled from 2000 to 2004. A six-year study conducted by the University of California, San Diego of more than 1 million adults showed that people who get only six to seven hours of sleep a night have a lower death rate than those who get a full eight hours of sleep.