Studies are showing that we’re more sleep deprived than ever. From AI-powered devices to apps and wearable tech, here’s how science is stepping up to the plate to help improve the quality of our sleep
Sleep is so essential and yet so elusive for many of us—particularly in major cities around Asia. A study conducted in 2021 by Sleepseeker, a UK bedding company, found that Singapore was the most sleep-deprived country in the world. In 2020, Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reported that more than half of the city’s residents suffered from sleep deprivation, with respondents claiming on average to get just four hours of sleep per night. And a survey conducted by Sleep Cycle, a sleep-tracking application, ranked the Philippines as the fourth most sleepless country in the world.
Long story short, we’re tired. And who can blame us? The modern metropolitan lifestyle isn’t particularly conducive to a good night’s rest, and the pandemic has exacerbated the problem over the past two and a half years—for a number of reasons. For one, mental health and sleep are inherently linked. Secondly, the initial necessity for and current choice to adopt working from home has erased our work-life boundaries. Where once our days were defined by alarm clocks, commutes, gym sessions, spending time with our colleagues at the office and grabbing a drink or meal after work—all of which help to regulate our sleep and keep our circadian rhythms intact—spending most of the day isolated in a single environment blurs the lines between where and when we work, rest and play, making it harder for many of us to switch off.
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“What’s one way for a car to break down? If you run it all the time,” Dr Jonathan Seah told Tatler in an interview about pro-ageing and longevity earlier this year. Seah is the co-founder and chairman of LifeClinic, an integrated medical clinic, and LifeHub, an independent medical wellness centre, both based in Hong Kong.
“The same goes for our bodies. If we are running it all the time or are in a constant state of stress, we will inevitably break down. Fixing sleep-associated problems is vital to our overall health,” he says, adding that quality of sleep can cause everything from impaired brain function and memory to compromised immunity, premature ageing, high blood pressure and a malfunctioning metabolism.
It’s no wonder, then, that the global sleep aids market is one of the fastest growing in the wellness sector, with its value projected to reach US$124 billion by 2030.
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It includes everything from pillow sprays, sleep yoga workshops, night-time teas, silk PJs and better-quality bedding to more innovative science-backed aids, including apps that offer everything from meditation to story-telling, white noise and sleep tracking. “Ten years ago, sleep was not a cultural priority, and people bragged about not sleeping. Now, it’s a [multi-billion] dollar economy,” Mickey Beyer-Clausen said in an article published by the Global Wellness Institute on July 24—Circadian Awareness Day—in 2021. Clausen is the co-founder and CEO of Timeshifter, the world’s first technology platform for understanding, tracking and regulating circadian time, and the top-rated app for jet lag. It “resynchronises” your body clock to optimise sleep, alertness, health and quality of life. “If you use science to estimate where people are at in their circadian cycle, apps can help you time your life far better: when is the best circadian time for individuals in Singapore and LA to Zoom or how to make sure your brain and body are ready when you need to be at your best.”
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