World Sleep Day, an annual event organised by the World Sleep Day Committee of World Sleep Society, is intended to be a celebration of sleep and a call to action on important issues related to sleep
post news network
BHUBANESWAR: One of the chronic issues which plague modern societies is sleep deprivation. No matter how hard working professionals try, requisite amount of sleep is seldom achieved due to busy schedules. Most people surveyed across 10 cities in India including Bhubaneswar stated that they do not get good amount of sleep.
World Sleep Day is an annual event, intended to be a celebration of sleep and a call to action on important issues related to sleep, including medicine, education, social aspects and driving. It is and aims to lessen the burden of sleep problems on society through better prevention and management of sleep disorders.
The survey, In Search of Better Sleep 2020, was undertaken by a private mattress company across various cities to understand attitudes, perceptions and behaviours around sleep and other related issues. It found that it is not only the duration but the quality of the sleep and various factors leading to distractions that have been a major concern growing year on year.
Overall, in the 10 cities, the survey found that collectively average hours of sleep have come down. In 2018 people slept 7.66 hours on weekend and 7.48 hours on weekdays which has drastically come down to 6.85 hours on weekends and 6.76 hours on weekdays. This brings forth the fact that majority of the people are not able to sleep for the required 8 hours as per health experts.
Looking at the gender-wise sleep duration, the findings are more worrying with the younger women (25-35 years) sleeping for 6.60 hours on weekends and 6.97 hours on weekdays in 2019 which was 7.70 hours and 7.43 hours respectively in the year 2018. Compared to them, the younger male slept for 6.73 hours on weekdays and 6.58 Hours on weekends in 2019 instead of 7.66 Hours on weekdays and 7.50 Hours on weekdays in 2018.
The data suggests that while people are waking up to the reality that sleep is fundamentally important, for most people, achieving quality sleep is still out of reach. The usage of laptops, tablets, and smart phones continues to be the biggest deterrent in sleep on time with 47% people voting for it. Worrying about work and finances related issues also delays the sleep of around 15% people surveyed.
The survey recorded that 45% people are being awake in the night due to either watching shows on TV, laptops, tablets and phone. The percentage has decreased by 8% with the 2018 survey report recording it at 53%. The usage of the smart phone for checking social media has also come down to 35% in 2019 from 46% a year back.
According to the survey, the people of Bhubaneswar are worried about their jobs/work and finances which severely affect their quality of sleep. Due to this reason, at least 28% people are suffering from sleep deprivation.
While announcing the details of the survey report, Uttam Malani, Executive Director, Centuary Mattresses, said, “This data suggests that while people are waking up to the reality that sleep is fundamentally important, for most people, achieving quality sleep is still out of reach.”
Sleep Deprivation
- The average hours of sleep enjoyed by people of Bhubaneswar has come down to 6.96 hours on weekends and 6.38 hours on weekdays in 2019 as compared to 7.21 hours on weekends and 7.07 hours on weekdays in 2018
- The survey found that 24% of the people sleep late due to watching TV, laptop and smart gadgets every night which has a detrimental effect on their health