If you feel as though you’re not getting as much sleep as you need, you’re probably not.
New research published in the peer-reviewed Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health has found as many as one in four young Australians
aren’t satisfied with their sleep
.
More than 1,200 young adults – aged 22 – were involved in the study, which looked at sleep quality based on factors including sleep duration, how quickly you fall asleep, satisfaction and regularity.
Around 30 per cent said they slept less than seven to nine hours a night, and 18 per cent took more than 30 minutes to fall asleep.
Their analysis found poor sleep had knock-on effects such as impaired daytime alertness.
Self-reported low sleep satisfaction was also a strong indicator for lower mental and physical health.
Terry Slevin, CEO of the Public Health Association of Australia, says the findings of the study have big implications for policymakers in the public health space.
“Increasingly the evidence is forming that suggests that sleep is an important public health issue,” he told SBS News.
“Having good quality and consistent and sufficient sleep is increasingly a public health challenge that we need to do more about and help people address in a consistent manner.”
But it’s not just young people who are waking up groggy.
Another
found one in three Australians of all ages were losing sleep due to the cost of living crisis.
Different groups of people have vastly different sleep requirements and they change throughout the course of one’s life.
