Shine OnSleep poll reveals we’re not getting enough shut-eye
Do you drift off into the world of zzzs the minute your head hits fluffy pillow? Do you sleep soundly through the night and wake up the next morning feeling refreshed, regenerated and ready to take on the world?
Congratulations! You are a statistical anomaly. According to a new poll released by the National Sleep Foundation, less than half the people in the countries surveyed are getting sufficient shut-eye.
Between crying babies, work demands, stress, millions of adulthood responsibilities or an inability to wind down in time to get that mythical eight hours, people around the world are bone tired.
It’s one of the first times a national survey has compared sleep patterns across numerous cultural divides, says Namni Goel, research associate professor of psychology in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine and a member of the NSF 2013 International Bedroom Poll expert panel.
Also see: Why sleep is even more important than we thought
"Although we know that everyone sleeps, the rather remarkable cultural differences within this universal experience have not been adequately explored. It is NSF's hope that this initial poll will inspire more research on this critical yet understudied topic,” she says in a press release.
Researchers randomly polled 1,501 people between the ages of 22 and 55 from the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan about their sleeping habits.
They discovered that the greatest concentration of under-eye bags among us can be found in Japan and the U.S., whose populations, respectively, reported the least amount of sleep.
During the work week, Japanese nationals claim to get an average of six hours and 22 minutes, while Americans clock in at six hours and 31 minutes.
According to the poll, 66 per cent of Japanese participants said they get less than seven hours of rest on weeknights, while Americans fared slightly better at 53 per cent.
Also see: Could catching up on sleep lower your risk of diabetes?
That’s all well and good until you get to the part where one in five Americans said they actually get less than six hours during the work week, while 19 per cent of Japanese participants and 18 per cent of those polled from the U.K. admitted the same. Unless you are a senior citizen or partly made of coffee, experts will tell you that is not enough sleep.
Canadians fared slightly better, with only 30 per cent getting less than seven hours and a smaller margin – seven per cent – sleeping less than six hours on weeknights.
Rounding out the poll of poor sleepers were Germans at 36 per cent and Mexicans at 29 per cent, respectively.
While our collective sleeping habits could definitely use some improvement, it’s not all dire. Half the American and Japanese participants polled admitted to napping at least once in two weeks to compensate for sleep deficits, while participants in every country said they sleep in at least an extra 45 minutes come Saturday and Sunday.
