La Crosse, Wisconsin....
What New Year's resolutions will Americans make to be healthier and feel better in 1998? And how likely are they to keep them?

According to a just-completed nationwide survey of 1,000 men and women, conducted for The Company Store, of La Crosse, Wisconsin, catalog marketers of bedroom, bath and personal comfort products, 56% feel they should exercise more, 43% said they should eat healthier foods, 36% want to lose weight (while 5% want to put weight on), 29% would like to get more sleep and 21% said they ought to smoke or drink less.

And a few had some resolutions which defied classification.

The survey also included a reality check: When asked which resolutions they'd be most likely to keep, only 40% said they'd exercise more, 33% would stick to healthier meals, 25% would lose weight, 18% would get more sleep and 13% would cut back on their smoking or drinking.

The Company Store, specialists in sleep comfort, and best known for its down comforters and pillows and featherbeds, has been conducting an ongoing series of surveys on sleep and bedroom activity.

Company Store president Jeff Potts said that while experts say most adults require eight hours or more of sleep, most Americans get significantly less and the national "sleep deficit" continues to increase.

He said that sleep deprivation affects both our emotional and physical well-being. He noted that "Insufficient sleep diminishes alertness, judgment and motor skills.

It saps our energy and productivity and even reduces the ability of our immune system to fight disease."

He noted that "The National Commission on Sleep Disorders estimates that some 60 million Americans are chronically sleep-deprived, which could mean that lack of sleep is the nation's leading health problem."

In its recent major report, entitled "Sleepiness in America," the nonprofit National Sleep Foundation in Washington, DC, called the situation "alarming."

Potts added that "The scope and impact of America's sleep deficit is beginning to receive the serious attention and study it deserves."

As for some of the more unusual "feel better" New Year's resolutions for 1998 turned up by The Company Store survey, they include:

• "To take a cruise."
• "To stay the way I am."
• "To have more Jack Daniels."
• "To change my job."
• "To get a divorce."
• "To smile more."
• "To take vitamins."
• "To catch more women."
• "To buy a computer."
• "To eat more fish."
• "To get a dog."

However, the most prudent New Year's resolution response of all may have been: "I don't make them, and I don't keep them."

The statistically-representative nationwide survey was conducted for The Company Store on December 18-21 by Bruskin-Goldring Research, of Edison, NJ.

Note to editors: For interviews with Jeff Potts, and for copies of the previous Company Store sleep and bedroom surveys, please contact Kristin Marcou at (608) 791-5759.

CONTACT:
AGG International, Public Relations
Paula Zwerdling
Managing Director
(212) 869-8230

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