Today Is World Sleep Day - New Research Reveals Kiwis' Sleeping Habits

In case you didn’t know, today is World Sleep Day, and Sealy NZ is once again ‘lifting the covers’ on how Kiwis are sleeping, with new research revealing that 90% of New Zealanders believe our personal lives would benefit from better sleep. Getting in touch to share some really interesting stats and insights may be of interest to you.

As part of Sealy’s Global Sleep Survey [1] that explores the sleep habits of over 20,000 people worldwide, Sealy NZ conducted a follow-on from its 2021 New Zealand Sleep Census, alongside Clinical Psychologist and Sleep Expert Dr. Kimberly Falconer, with the aim to further understand how Kiwis are sleeping and to identify ways to improve sleep quality.

I’ve attached the media release and a report of the key results for your reference and have also pulled out some key points for ease of reference:

• There is a need to educate on ‘sleep efficiency’ vs ‘sleep duration’:
  • While more than half (55%) of Kiwis are getting the recommended seven to eight hours sleep a night, a staggering 60% reported waking up feeling unrested at least five days a week. Troublingly, 1 in 10 Kiwis admit to never waking up feeling refreshed, with this number increasing to 1 in 4 Kiwis who work rotating/changing shifts.
• Kiwis’ sleep habits are affecting our sleep quality, in some cases more than our global neighbours:
  • Of the global markets surveyed, New Zealanders were the highest consumers of caffeinated drinks with 93% of us consuming at least one caffeinated drink daily (vs 86% of the global sample), with one in nine consuming their caffeinated drink in the hour before they went to bed
  • Device use before bed was higher in New Zealand than the global average (77%) with 83% of Kiwis reporting that they watch television either inside or outside the bedroom, or use an electronic device for entertainment prior to going to bed. Malaysia (84%) was the only country to top New Zealand for device use before bed.
  • Kiwis (48%) are also more likely than our Australian (39%) neighbours to use a device for social media/messaging before bed.
  • The more often someone sleeps near their phone, the less likely they are to wake feeling refreshed and well-rested. This trend is troubling, with 65% of New Zealanders leaving their mobile phones close to their bed while they sleep. This statistic is much higher for under 25s (87%).
• The 2024 theme for World Sleep Day is “Sleep Equity for Global Health”, and unfortunately women seem to be drawing the short stick:
  • Women are 58% more likely to experience trouble with getting to sleep and staying asleep, data that Dr Falconer says corresponds to what she sees in clinical practice with woman being significantly more likely to present with insomnia than men. Unfortunately, the research results also revealed that women are more likely than men to have their lives affected by a lack of sleep, reporting that when they were tired they were more likely to not stick to their usual routine (20% vs 9%), not exercise (36% vs 22%), eat more/eat poorly (39% vs 15%), get irritable or snappy with coworkers, friends and family (32% vs 19%) and not be as productive as they would normally be (43% vs 24%).
• And then there’s some pretty wild and amusing stats such as:
  • Despite weather typically being warmer in Australia, New Zealanders (18%) were more likely than Australians (13%) to sleep nude.
  • Additionally, a quarter (25%) of Kiwi men report they sleep nude… vs 12% of Kiwi women.

[1] Conducted by Quantum Market Research (QMR) from 29 August – 21 September 2023 with 20,000 participants aged 18+ across New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan. Australia/New Zealand sample size n=5,865 with data weighted to be representative of Australia and New Zealand populations.

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