Owing to a technologically advancing world, people are becoming progressively reliant on the innovations and fads that technological know-how has to offer. This technology-friendly, or rather sleep-unfriendly, lifestyle has perpetuated a culture that prioritises Internet hypersensitivity first and prescribed sleeping practices last. People, especially the ones living in the ever-awake metropolitans, are becoming increasingly prone to insomnia.

Wakefit.co, a Bengaluru-based mattress manufacturing enterprise, conducted a survey of more than 7500 respondents from all over the country — a majority of which belonged to major metropolitans like Bangalore, Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata — and the results were astonishing!

To start with, the survey stated that a whopping 31 per cent of people get less than 7 hours of sleep. This finding is especially overwhelming because, ideally, an individual is expected to sleep for at least 7 to 9 hours to function actively the next day. It is even more mortifying to find that a staggering 27 per cent of teenagers get only 6 hours of sleep, far less than required, in such a crucial growing phase of their lives. Women, on the other hand, face the worst of it all. As per the said survey, 11 per cent of women get only 5 to 6 hours of sleep.

A question to ask then becomes: Why? Why do people, who work endlessly from the morning till the evening, refuse to get enough sleep at night? Well, based on Wakefit.co’s ongoing survey, there are plausible explanations to this question. A major chunk of the supposedly-sleeping time is wasted away by people while watching television, working in bed, scrolling through the social media feeds and worrying about future. There is no denying that this tech-friendly culture is furtively spreading a web of diseases all over the country.

Over 7500 respondents from across India were part of the survey conducted over a period of three months.

Approximately 32 per cent of Indians wake up fatigued, not to mention sleepy, while about 50 per cent people suffer from back problems, both chronic and acute included. This suffering is a direct consequence of a highly-disturbed sleeping cycle. In the long run, these symptoms can develop into severe health complications. Dr Gowri Kulkarni, head of Medical Operations, DocsApp medical app, says, “Although it sounds productive to work round the clock, it has long-term damaging effects at the cellular level. Chronic sleep deprivation is known to cause weight gain, hormonal imbalance, increase stress levels and make a person prone to serious chronic health diseases like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, etc.”

Apart from the above-listed physical effects that result from an apparent lack of sleep, one is also subject to a series of other discomforts. Dr Hema Sampath, psychology advisor at Wakefit.co, says, “The extensive survey done by Wakefit, highlighting the changing sleep patterns, is the impact of lifestyle, on health. Sleep disorders can have several social, psychological, economical and physiological consequences. Sleep has a clear influence on both mental and physical well-being.”

Insomnia, however, can be treated if one is attentive, not to mention willing, enough to imply required changes.

A staggering 49 per cent of the surveyed people found better sleep quality in comforting mattresses while 27 per cent were relieved once they adapted to an ideal sleeping pattern, which is from 10.30 pm to 6.30 am. The remaining set of people slept a good night’s sleep after they decided to discard their phones and laptops, and Internet for that matter, once in bed.