Indian company allows employees to doze the day off on World Sleep Day

New Delhi, Mar 17 (EFE).- An Indian company offered its employees a day off for sleeping on Friday to mark the World Sleep Day, after finding out in a survey that Indians’ night-sleep patterns had deteriorated in recent times.

“All employees have been granted a day of rest on March 17th. As sleep enthusiasts, we consider sleep day a festival, especially when it falls on Friday,” the Human Resources department of the company Wakefit said in a mail to employees.

The emerging firm, based in the southern city of Bengaluru, is involved in the production and sale of mattresses apart from other ventures, and for six years has been carrying out an online survey of Indians’ nightly habits before they go to sleep.

In its latest edition, the survey reported an 11 percent increase in the number of people who said they woke up tired, while the number of people who said they felt tired during the work-day went up by 21 percent compared to the previous survey.

The World Sleep Day is held every year on the Friday before the March Equinox and was established by members of the medical fraternity to spread awareness about the need to prevent sleep disorders as well as trying to fight them.

Although there is no official data over Indians’ sleep quality, a study carried out by Professor Gomathi Ramaswamy and others – published in the National Medical Journal in 2021 – showed that over 36 percent of the participants of a survey among rural communities of the southern territory of Puducherry – reported experiencing poor sleep quality.

Another research, carried out by academician Samhita Panda in 2012, concluded that 20-34 percent Indians in the southern part of the country suffered from sleep disorders, a figure that is higher than the world average.

Exhaustion, headache and lack of concentration are some of the results of poor sleep quality, which can even trigger disorders such as depression, anxiety or irritability.

Khushboo Kumari, a young professional who works until late hours of the night, told EFE that lack of sleep was affecting her professional performance and she could feel it gradually taking a toll on her mental health too.

“A proper sleep cycle has always been essential for my health and to give the best outcome the next day,” she said. EFE

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