A new study looking at the sleeping patterns of people across the world shows that we are facing a “global sleep crisis”, where people across the world are not getting enough sleep due to social pressures.
The study, conducted by the University of Michigan, is based on data captured by the ENTRAIN sleep tracking smartphone app.
According to the researchers, biologically our sleep schedule is determined by environmental factors, such as sunset, sunrise and light.
The amount a person sleeps is affected by a group of 20,000 nerve cells, which are located behind the eyes, the researcher said. This cells adjust to how much light they are exposed to, especially natural light, which can cause a person to wake up earlier.
However data from 6,000 app users across the world, shows that our sleeping patterns do not adhere to these schedules, and our cues for sleep are being weakened or ignored completely – likely due to societal reasons.
Professor Daniel Forger, one of the researchers, said that there is an increasing conflict between our bodies telling us to go to sleep, and our own desires to stay awake.
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