On World Sleep Day, we bring forward directions to raise awareness about the often neglected aspect of health and wellbeing that is sleeping. It has often been confused with if exercise is more important than sleep to maintain good health. In a survey, it has been found that 60% of Indians feel the same way that exercise is more important than sleeping.

The survey, led by Philips India, shows that 19% of Indian adults feel overlapping work hours with sleep schedule as a barrier to sleep, while the other 32 percent feel that technology is a major sleep hurdle. It was also found that 45% adults tried mediation to deal with sleeping issues, while 24% try specialized bedding.

Sleep disorder is a serious issue but most people do not take it as a serious one. This disorder makes a person prone to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, stroke etc, said Harish R, Head (Sleep and Respiratory Care) at Philips. He also added “In a country where snoring is traditionally associated with sound sleep, it is extremely challenging to make people aware that it is a sign of a serious sleep disorder.”

Today on World Sleep Day , we list few reasons on why good sleep is important.

• People with short sleep duration tend to weigh significantly more than those who get adequate sleep
• Less sleep duration has also been associated with poor exercise performance and functional limitation in elderly women.
• In a study of healthy young men, restricting sleep to 4 hours per night for 6 nights in a row caused symptoms of pre-diabetes.
• Mental health issues, such as depression, are strongly linked to poor sleep quality and sleeping disorders.
• Sleep loss reduces our ability to interact socially.