New Delhi: Fifty-two percent Indians say their sleep pattern has changed after the Covid pandemic, a national survey has found.
The question received 11,541 responses, and those with a positive answer said they were sleeping differently with “Covid being prevalent”.
The survey by social media community platform LocalCircles sought to understand whether citizens were getting uninterrupted sleep, or had noticed any change, over the past few years of Covid.
The survey received over 32,000 responses from 322 districts of India. Sixty-one percent of the respondents were men and 39% women. Forty-nine percent respondents were from tier 1, 30% from tier 2 and 21% from tier 3 and 4 rural districts.
LocalCircles asked respondents: “How many hours of uninterrupted sleep do you generally get at night?”
To this, out of the 20,549 responses, only 6% said “8-10 hours”, a majority of 38% said “6-8 hours”, 27% said “4-6 hours” and 23% said “up to 4 hours”. Another 6% of the respondents couldn’t say affirmatively about the duration of their sleep.
On an aggregate, 1 in 2 Indians is getting less than 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night, while 1 in 4 is sleeping less than 4 hours.
When asked whether citizens have witnessed any change in their sleep pattern over the last few years with “Covid being prevalent”, out of 6,001 responses, 7% said “Yes, my uninterrupted sleep pattern has reduced”, another 7% said “Yes, I have developed apnea and sleep gets frequently disrupted”, 8% said “Yes, my sleep requirements have increased”, and another 7% said “Yes, I have trouble going to sleep in the first place”.
People, who never suffered from Covid, also reported changes. Fifteen percent of respondents said: “Yes, my uninterrupted sleep duration has reduced”, 7% said “I have developed sleep apnea and sleep gets frequently disrupted”, 8% said “My sleep requirements have increased”, while 3% said “I have trouble going to sleep in the first place”.
Further, 10% of citizens said, “Yes, my sleep has become more irregular for reasons other than Covid”. On an aggregate — after the Covid pandemic — people are struggling to sleep, or getting less uninterrupted sleep, or reported troubles with sleep apnea among other issues.
Sleep experts say adults must get seven or more hours of sleep every night for good health and longevity. However, the results of the survey indicate that half of our population isn’t getting the same and is at risk.
New studies have also shown that a person may still face sleep difficulties months or even years after recovering from Covid.
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