Society Japan ranked last for sleep quality

[Maciamo]

The Economist published an article about sleep quality around the world.

A new paper attempts to fill some of the gaps. Using anonymised data collected from a popular wearable device between January 2021 and January 2022, researchers from the National University of Singapore and Oura Health, a Finnish sleep-tech startup, analysed the sleep habits of more than 220,000 people across 35 countries.

You can see the ranking in the article. The last seven countries are all in Asia. South Korea and Japan are at the bottom of the list. The average sleeping time during the week it ranges between 6.8 and 7 hours in Western countries while in Japan it is only 6.1 hours. Sleep efficiency in the West is comprised between 85.6 and 86.8, why in Japan it is 83.4, over 2 points lower than the worst rated Western countries and one point lower even than South Korea, which is second to last, showing that Japan is really in a category of its own when it comes to sleep quality.

I am not surprised though as Japanese houses and apartments have virtually no sound isolation, even brand new construction as I have been able to experience myself this month. It's very hard to get a good night's sleep in Japan, even with earplugs.

In my experience (having stayed in over 40 different hotels or Airbnb's in Japan over the years) the best way to limit the impact of street noise is to stay on a high floor (hotel or apartment), usually the higher the better. I suppose that's also partly why higher floor apartments are more expensive in Japan (in addition to having more natural light and maybe a better view if it's not surrounded by other tall buildings).

 

[mdchachi]

They didn't count the dozing off on the train while commuting. Surely that's worth a couple of points.

 

[thomas]

Sleeping quality and sleeping time:

Tokyo workers sleep less than New York, Europe peers

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Health ministry urges Japanese adults to sleep more

Japan's population is notoriously sleep-deprived. The Health Ministry has now urged Japanese adults to sleep for at least six hours a night. According to a 2019 survey, 37.5 per cent of men and 40.6 per cent of women sleep less than six hours a day on average. I am one of them. :sleep...

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According to the Economist, the average sleeping time during weekdays is 6.1 hours, while Asahi puts it at 7 hours 22 minutes across all age groups and days. I'm having less than either of them.