Global Sleep Survey: Who Meditates, Sleeps Naked, And Changes Their Bed Sheets The Least?
When it comes to getting some shut eye, people living in different parts of the world have very different bedtime rituals, from how clean the keep the bedroom to the amount of hours of sleep they clock in every night. The Global Sleep Survey, an international poll released by the NSF, compared the bedroom habits of 1,500 people between the ages of 25 and 55 years old living across the United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan.
Bedtime Rituals Before Sleep Across the Globe
In preparation for a good night’s sleep, people living in different parts of the world have different specific bedtime rituals. For example, more than half (62 percent) of survey respondents in Mexico, and approximately half of Americans, reported to either praying or meditating an hour before going to bed, more so than other countries in the survey.
Across the pond, the British prefer to unwind with a warm tea beverage before they go to bed. And, one-third of Brits confessed to going all bare when it came to hitting the covers at night.
Which Countries Keep Their Bedrooms Cleanest?
According to Psychology Today, a cleaner bedroom could lead to a better night’s sleep. A proper sleep environment is all-inclusive — making your bed every day, keeping clean bed sheets, making sure the bedroom is dark and cool bedrooms, and using a comfortable mattresses and pillows are all essential for quality sleep. A few countries in the survey fell short of creating a proper sleep environment for a good night’s rest.
Japan was found to have the highest percentage of people saying they rarely or ever make the bed at 20 percent. Also, approximately a third of people in Japan admitted to changing their bed sheets less often than every three weeks. Germany closely followed by 12 percent.
On the other end of the spectrum, Mexico ranked the highest with 82 percent of people reporting to make their bed every single day. In addition, the country ranked highest with nearly 25 percent of people claiming they change their sheets more than once a week.
Nine out of 10 survey respondents from Mexico, Germany, and the U.K. confessed to feeling more at ease if they had a pleasant-smelling bedroom. Seventy-five percent of Americans and Canadians also agreed with their international counterparts.
In Germany, the smell of a bedroom is a very important element of a good night’s sleep compared to other countries. German survey respondents all admitted to airing out their bedroom either weekly or more than once a week.
Hours of Sleep Clocked In By Country
According to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), while there is “no magic number” for sleep, the recommended amount of sleep for healthy adults is seven to eight hours of sleep every night. This amount is based on a personal’s "basal sleep need" — the amount of sleep needed for the body to function for optimal performance — and "sleep debt," sleep that that is lost due to poor sleep habits due to external factors.
But it's culuraly relative: the different societal demands in countries around the world may impact the amount of sleep a person gets. A common finding in the international poll revealed all six countries slept an average of 45 minutes more on days they do not go into work.
The most sleep deprived countries are Japan and America, both of which report an estimated 30 to 40 minutes of sleep less on workdays than the other four countries surveyed. The average amount of sleep in these two nations is about six and a half hours of sleep. On the other hand, 40 percent of Brits, 36 percent of Germans, and 30 percent of Canadians and Mexicans report getting less than seven hours of sleep on work nights.
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