SINGAPORE — A recent survey appears to confirm what many have suspected for a long time: Singaporeans are not getting enough sleep.
Yesterday, international market research agency YouGov released the results of a survey which found that 44 percent of Singaporeans were getting less than seven hours of sleep a night.
Numerous sources, including the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state that those above the age of 18 should get at least seven hours of sleep per night.
However, only 48 percent of the 1,022 Singaporeans surveyed reported getting seven to eight hours of sleep each night.
The survey, conducted last month using YouGov’s Omnibus survey tool, drew its responses from a pool of Singaporeans reflecting the nation’s demographic make-up.
Six percent of these were getting nine to 10 hours of sleep, and a lucky 1 percent claimed to be getting more than 10 hours of sleep.
Forty-one percent said that they were getting only four to six hours of sleep.
While 3 percent of those surveyed got fewer than four hours of sleep a night, those drawing a lower income appeared to be more badly affected – 6 percent of Singaporeans with a household income of less than $4,000 a month said they got fewer than four hours of sleep each night.
A majority of survey respondents also reported that they were unable to sleep through the night, with 77 percent stating that they woke up at least once a night.
The 23 percent who could sleep through the night without waking up were more likely than the population as a whole to describe their quality of sleep as good.
Singaporeans aged 55 and above also appeared to be sleeping better, with 45 percent of this group describing their quality of sleep as good.
Mr Jake Gammon, head of YouGov’s Omnibus department in the Asia-Pacific, said demanding work could be the cause of sleep-less nights.
He said: “In a fast-paced metropolis like Singapore, only about half its citizens are getting enough rest. What is particularly worrying is lower-income Singaporeans are twice as likely to get less than four hours of sleep a night.”
On a lighter note, the survey found that 53 percent of Singaporeans above the age of 18 slept with a “comfort object”, which was either a stuffed toy or security blanket.
Women were more likely to do so than men, with 61 percent of women and 44 percent of men saying that they did.
Singaporeans aged 25 to 34 were also more likely than those aged 55 and above to sleep with a “comfort object”, with 61 percent of the younger age group and 32 percent of the older age group saying that they did.
There was no indication, however, that those who slept with a “comfort object” got better or more sleep than those who did not.
