In a survey of 1,106 people aged between 18 and 74 in Proteste, a publication of consumer rights association Deco, more than one third of those questioned said they sleep poorly and almost twice as many say they have problems sleeping.
In all, 63 percent of those questioned have some kind of problem and 41 percent say they are sleepy during the day.
Of all participants, 59 percent said they have difficulty falling sleep, with 31 percent saying they watch television until late and 17 percent use a smartphone or tablet in bed.
Eight out of 10 people said they woke up in the middle of the night or too early, with the main reasons cited as heat or cold (29 percent) or, in more than one fifth of those questioned, financial or work problems, anxiety, depression or pain.
The study also found that the measures most often adopted to relax before going to bed are watching television, drinking a herbal tea, reading, listening to radio or music, taking a bath or trying to think of nice things.
Almost one quarter of those questioned take some form of pill to help them sleep.
On average, Proteste notes, people sleep seven hours, but some people - above all women - say they only need six.
“Here our alarm bells ring, because our study shows that it is women who sleep less and who report more worrying levels of daytime sleepiness, alongside people who work night shifts,” it warns.
According to the World Health Organisation, sleep problems affect about 40 percent of the world’s population, and are viewed as a major public health problem.
In the short term, a shortage of sleep causes emotional instability and affects people’s capacities to work and concentrate, reaction times, logical reasoning and the capacity to take decisions. The risk of accidents also increase, while the body’s defences are lowered and the risk of cardiovascular problems increases.
Sleeping less than six hours a day increases the risk of heart disease by 48 percent. TPN/Lusa