LIFE & CULTURE

Do You Have Social Jetlag? The Sleep Condition Affecting A Third Of Australians

1 in 3 of us are chronically sleep deprived, and this is why

If you woke up this morning after a big weekend wondering how you could possibly drag yourself as far as the shower, let alone the office, it’s not just you: approximately one third of Australians are sleep-deprived.

RELATED: How To Tell If You’re Not Getting Enough Sleep

A new study led by University of Adelaide sleep specialist Professor Robert Adams has found that one in three Australians suffers from what he’s dubbed “social jetlag”, The Guardian reports.

Professor Adams surveyed 837 Australians, excluding night or rotating shift workers, and found that 31 per cent were suffering social jetlag: when the amount of sleep they were getting on work nights was more than an hour out of sync with sleep on weekends and days off.

Published today in the journal Sleep Medicine, the study also found that the socially jet-lagged among us are more likely to go to bed late, wake up feeling tired, be late for work and drag themselves to work even if they were sick. 

The study also found that sleep-deprived people were more likely to keep computer devices in their bedroom and use them in the hour before sleep.

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