Not only is today the best day of the week (TGIF!) but it’s also World Sleep Day – the perfect excuse to snooze your alarm for five more minutes, am I right? It may also be the perfect time to ask for that raise you’ve been thinking about because studies have found that you’re able to sleep better with an increased salary. We always knew that, of course, but now there’s data to back it up!
According to the India Sleep and Wellness survey commissioned by Sunday Mattresses and conducted among working professionals above the age of 25, there is a direct correlation between increasing salary and ease of falling asleep.
However, that’s not the only factor that helps you sleep like a baby at night. Based on a report by a daily publication, Somnologist (sleep expert) and founder of Aviss Health, Dr. Himanshu Garg said, “Sleep is the most underrated natural resource. With people socializing till late at night and working over time, they are losing out on quality sleep. Children preparing for exams are also losing out on sleep. They are trying to pack in more and they do not realise that the REM phase of sleep, the deepest phase, is when information gets best absorbed and by sleeping late, students are missing out on it.”
“For long-lasting productivity, efficiency, memory and to prevent serious diseases, good sleep is a prerequisite”, he added.
The sleep and wellness survey, conducted across Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, indicated a number of reasons that enable you to get that much-needed beauty sleep at night, and some of these may surprise you!
1. Productivity at work
Yeah, we couldn’t believe it either. Over two-thirds of the sound sleepers believe they are 100 percent productive at work; whereas more than half of those who reported getting insufficient sleep believed they were only 75 percent (or less) productive. Great work equals great sleep – looks like we found the secret of success!
2. The time you go to bed
We’re all guilty of staying up and scrolling through our social media feeds till late in the night, but we really ought to be giving our bodies a break and sleeping earlier. The study showed that Bangaloreans go to bed the earliest (between 10 PM and 11 PM); whereas Mumbai has the highest proportion of night owls who sleep after midnight, perhaps owing to long commutes that are a norm in Mumbai.
3. Your weight
People who consider themselves to be overweight are 2.5 times more likely to have sleep issues as compared to people who do not consider themselves to be overweight. There’s also quite a strong correlation between sleep and exercise. People who do not exercise are 3 times more prone to having issues with sleep as compared to people who exercise regularly (go to the gym at least 2-3 times every week). Think about that the next time you decide to skip the gym, huh?
4. Health and habits
Smokers, the survey has found, are 52 percent more likely to have sleep problems as compared to non-smokers. Amongst smokers, ease of sleep goes down as the number of cigarettes increases. So here’s another reason for you to kick that cigarette butt – you’re losing out on sleep!
5. Diet and metabolism
The research findings also demonstrate that people who eat less than two hours before going to sleep are 50 percent more likely to have sleep-related issues. More Delhiites head to bed with a somewhat heavy or heavy dinner, whereas Mumbai keeps it light.
6. Your mattress
Respondents think that mattresses are very important for good quality of sleep. People who sleep on mattresses that are new (less than 3 years old) are 20 percent less likely to have sleep issues compared to those sleeping on older mattresses. Who knew good sleep meant way more than just healthy sleeping positions in bed?!
7. Spouse and children
Singles and married people with kids (without differentiating between parents with infant kids or grown-up kids) are more content and fall asleep easily as compared to married couples without kids – bet you thought it was the other way around! On the other hand, people who share their bed with kids are 50 percent more likely to have problems falling asleep.
Overall, based on the survey, Bangalore has a better record of falling asleep as compared to Delhi and Mumbai and this is mainly attributed to relatively lower noise levels, however, Bangaloreans report a lower quality of sleep and have difficulty sustaining it.
We could definitely use all the information we can get about our unhealthy sleeping patterns. Here’s to all of us getting our much-deserved rest every single night! *yawns aggressively*
Images: Pixabay, Unsplash, Pexels
