HYDERABAD: IN a 2017 interview, the CEO of one of the virtual world’s leading streaming giants, Netflix declared war on sleep hours of its customers. By saying that Netflix’s biggest competitor was not YouTube or Amazon but sleep, Redd Hastings laid bare the insidious nature of modern-day entertainment industry which thrives on its sleepless customers. This despite that YouTube alone records over five billion video streams every single day.
Back home, Hyderabadis are not quite successful at evading the sleep-depriving pangs of smartphones and laptops. According to the survey -- Great Indian Sleep Scorecard 2019 -- published by the mattress selling company Wakefit.co, two things are keeping Hyderabadis awake at night -- binge watching shows and financial woes.
While the study is quite comprehensive in its research of which are the best cities for sleep-lovers, conducted a study on 2,000 people from the city. At least 90 per cent of those surveyed said they used their phones just before going to sleep while 28 per cent said they stayed up late in the night watching shows on their devices.
In a direct result, a quarter of the respondents said they were sleeping less than seven hours each day. It may be noted that according to the American Centre for Disease Control, an adult brain needs at least seven hours of sleep. The study also asks its respondents how many of them felt sleepy while at office and found that a whooping 81 per cent of Hyderabadis were sleepy in office, at least one to three days in a week. Add to that, 23 per cent of group lost their sleep worrying about financial woes!
Impact on health remains immense with a massive 79 per cent reporting to suffering from insomnia -- inability to sleep at all. According to sleepeducation.org, binge-watchers report greater fatigue as well as symptoms of insomnia along with poorer sleep quality and higher alertness just before going to sleep. Also, 45 per cent of the respondents complained of developing back pains. Not getting enough sleep is linked to many diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart diseases, obesity and depression.
Sleepless in Hyderabad
At least 90% of those surveyed by Wakefit.co said they used their phones just before going to sleep while 28% stayed up late at night watching shows. And 23% lost their sleep worrying about financial woes