We all know what it feels like when the dreaded alarm goes off and you want to repeatedly hit the snooze button. Do you wake up and feel like you haven’t been asleep nearly long enough? A recent sleep survey conducted by Koala mattress questioned 1,000 Australians on their sleeping habits and it revealed that most of us wish we could catch some more z’s.
Here are the results of the latest Australian sleep survey
- 63% of those surveyed get 6-7 hours sleep each night
- 42% described their sleep as neither good nor poor
- 58% said they felt somewhat rested in the morning
- 47% said they didn’t have a specific routine before going to bed
- Stress, noise and light pollution, bed comfort and their partners sleeping habits were cited as some of the main reasons behind lack of rest
The recommended amount of hours sleep is between seven to nine hours a night. So it’s best to create a routine to optimise your sleep pattern.
Here are some tips to maximise your sleep time:
- Try to create a routine by going to bed at roughly the same time each night.
- Use the hour before bed to unwind with calming music, reading or a hot bath or shower.
- Turn off any distractions such as phones, computers and TVs in your room.
- Make sure your bedroom is a calming and comfortable environment, don’t keep sleeping on uncomfortable mattresses and pillows.
- Make sure you get some exercise and sunlight during the day.
- Avoid caffeine at least four hours before going to bed. Try a calming herbal tea, like chamomile before you got to bed.
- Keep your bedroom just for sleep and intimacy.
- You can not force sleep, so if you are not asleep after 20 minutes try a breathing technique to relax yourself or another relaxing technique.
Surprisingly, there was not much difference between the results from men and women. Both reported similar sleep durations with 51% of males stating that they neither had a good or poor sleep whilst 48% of women said the same. However, 54% of females said they had a good night’s sleep compared to 45% of males.
