World Sleep Day: At an average of 6.55 hours per night, Indians among poorest sleepers in the world

New Delhi: Indians are some of the poorest sleepers in the world, clocking in an average of 6.55 hours a night, reveals data from an activity app.

Ahead of World Sleep Day, which is an annual event held on Friday of second full week of March, Fitbit – an American-based company known for its products of the same name which are activity trackers and wireless-enabled wearable technology devices - reveals that Asians, including Indians, get less sleep on average than their American and European counterparts.

Of the 18 countries covered by the data, people in New Zealand, Australia and the UK were found to get the most sleep on average per night (full rankings can be found below).

The sleep statistics, based on aggregated and anonymous Fitbit data from January to December 2016.

Along with diet and exercise, good sleep plays a critical role in health and overall wellbeing, from protecting against cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity, to boosting neurocognitive functions, mental health and longevity, according to the Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Sleep Medicine and Research.

Fitbit further cites in a study called 'Need for Sleep', "teens who have had insufficient sleep did worse cognitively than teens on the recommended amount of sleep of their age group".

In order to provide users with deeper insights on their sleep, Fitbit is introducing two dynamic sleep tools that will be launched later this month - Sleep Stages and Sleep Insights - providing information on sleep quality and advice on how to improve sleep patterns.

The recently launched Fitbit Alta HR™ features these sleep tracking features, providing actionable insights and guidance in the Fitbit app so that users can make more informed decisions about health and stay motivated to reach their wellness goals.

By better knowing sleep quality and patterns, users can make lifestyle changes to improve sleep over time, such as diet, exercise, winding down before bed and keeping a consistent sleep schedule.

Tracking sleep patterns could also help identify variations that can be indicative of other issues.

Take a look at sleep duration rankings (based on aggregated and anonymous Fitbit data from January – December 2016).

Sl.	Country	Sleep duration (hours)
1.	Japan	6.35
2.	India	6.55
3.	Singapore	6.56
4.	Taiwan	6.56
5.	Republic of Korea	6.56
6.	Hong Kong	6.61
7.	Colombia	6.75
8.	Mexico	6.76
9.	Chile	6.80
10.	Spain	6.91
11.	Italy	6.94
12.	United States	6.99
13.	Canada	7.05
14.	Germany	7.07
15.	France	7.08
16.	Australia	7.15
17.	United Kingdom	7.16
18.	New Zealand	7.25