Nowadays, more and more importance is given to sleep hygiene and its quality. However, research data from the Samsung Health app reveals that people around the world are sleeping less and worse compared to last year. The average amount of sleep per night has currently fallen below the recommended 7 hours, and the worst sleep quality indicators are precisely among young people.
Data from a survey conducted by Samsung show that 48% of Baltic residents use a smart watch on a daily basis. Of the options available on the device, sleep data analysis ranks in the top three (51%) of the used functions. On the other hand, Samsung Health application user data for a total of 716 million nights worldwide shows a negative trend. Although interest in personal sleep health has grown rapidly, the reality is that sleep quality is deteriorating.
Global trend: sleep is poorer and shorter
Worldwide, the average sleep duration has decreased from 7 hours and 3 minutes to 6 hours and 59 minutes, falling below the threshold of 7 hours recommended by the National Sleep Foundation. When compared globally, the only regions where the number of hours of sleep meets the norm are Europe and North America. Here, the average sleep duration per night is 7 h 14 min, but in North America – 7 h. Latin America (6 h 53 min), Central Asia (6 h 46 min) and Asia (6 h 34 min) sleep less on average, not reaching the recommended norm.
Increasing rates of time spent awake at night also worsen sleep efficiency. This sleep quality factor is calculated by subtracting the time spent asleep from the total time spent in bed.
Both trends affect people of all age groups, studied regions, and regardless of gender. Although men’s sleep efficiency is generally lower, in the last year these indicators have fallen almost twice as fast for women. Analyzing by age categories, it can be concluded that people over the age of 70 have the worst sleep efficiency.
Sleep debt is the biggest threat to younger people
One of the main parameters for healthy sleep hygiene is regular sleep, as well as the same bedtime and wake-up time every day. Observing inconsistent sleep habits, sleeping little on weekdays, but trying to catch up on the rest, creates a sleep debt, which generally affects well-being and the quality of rest.
On average, people sleep 44 minutes longer on weekends worldwide, 46 minutes longer in Europe. Sleep debt is most common in young people. In the 20s, it averages 49 minutes, but by comparison, in the 70s, the figure is just 29 minutes.
Sleep avatars for sleep analysis
To gain deeper insight into different sleep habits, Samsung analyzes and divides smartwatch users into several types of sleepers. Each of the eight sleeping animals, or avatars, represents a different type of sleeper with unique characteristics related to sleep duration, consistency, and wake time.
The majority, or one-third of people, identify as nervous penguins. This pattern of sleepers is characterized by a healthy circadian rhythm, however, frequent awakenings are experienced during sleep, which reduces sleep efficiency. This model most accurately corresponds to the negative trend observed during the last year.
The most characteristic of older people is the cautious deer type. These are people with shorter sleep duration and longer wake time. This avatar represents almost 40% of people aged 70 and over, which is almost 10 times more than young people in their 20s. In their twenties, the most common types are the sensitive hedgehog and the mole, which are characterized by problems with the consistency of sleep.
Habits to improve sleep hygiene
The Samsung Health app can help you improve your sleep quality and, consequently, your well-being, mood and concentration. When you connect it to the Galaxy Watch6 or another smartwatch in the Galaxy series, it collects information about your sleep during the week – what time you go to bed, how long you slept, how good your sleep was – and will start reminding you when it’s time to go to bed. Then, by completing two surveys about their sleep habits, the user is created an individual program of several weeks with the aim of improving sleep at night. Research data shows that even after one month of the program, improvements are visible, regardless of the type of sleeper.
It should be remembered that the quality of sleep at night is affected by everything experienced during the day – emotions, physical activities, diet and especially what we do shortly before going to bed. Also, on the contrary, if we have not slept, our mood, ability to concentrate and perform even everyday duties will also be disturbed. Therefore, it is important to realize how careless sleep hygiene can affect well-being in the long term and what should be done to improve it.
Source: LETA
2023-11-01 12:10:11
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