Published on
updated on
Reading 2 min.
We tend to forget it, but the quality of our nights determines that of our days. But good nights of sleep are becoming increasingly rare, particularly because of work. Europeans are particularly concerned by this phenomenon, according to a recent survey.
MattressNextDay analyzed data from 36 European countries on work-sleep balance. In other words, it compared the number of hours that workers in each country studied spend sleeping to the number of hours they spend working on their careers.
Europeans sleep an average of seven hours a night, according to Euronews which relays the results of this survey. This figure varies, however, depending on several factors such as the balance between their professional and private lives, the quality of the air as well as the amount of light they benefit from each day. But also the country where the workers live.
In fact, the Dutch tend to sleep longer than most of their European neighbours. Residents of the Netherlands sleep an average of 8 hours, according to a study published in 2016 in the scientific journal Science Advances. According to Eurostat, they generally work 32.2 hours per week, which is much less than the average for the Old Continent (36.4 hours). Enough to make the Netherlands the European country where workers benefit from the best work-sleep balance.
Austria is also one of the European countries where workers sleep the most. Medical University of Vienna claims that the latter spend seven to eight hours a day asleep. In comparison, they work 33.7 hours a week, according to Eurostat. Just like the Austrians, the Norwegians can boast of having a good balance between work and sleep. The inhabitants of the Fjord country dedicate an average of 34.1 hours to their work, while they sleep 7 hours a night.
Conversely, Turkey, Serbia and Montenegro are among the countries with the worst work-sleep balance. People in these countries typically work more than 42 hours a week, according to figures from the European statistics agency. That leaves them little time to drift off to sleep.
But science is unanimous: sleep is an essential bodily function for health. It has been proven time and again that poor quality/quantity of sleep is linked to excess weight, cardiovascular problems and reduced immune function.
However, most people neglect the importance of sleep, and see it as an adjustment variable in their schedule. In the long run, the minutes of lost sleep turn into hours. This results in a sleep debt whose harmful effects are felt on both personal and professional life. However, this can be remedied by adopting a healthier lifestyle (diet, sports activity, etc.) and by not delaying bedtime.