Work from home is making 67% Indian suffer from sleep deprivation, says study – Times of India

Aniket Singh, a 42-year-old marketing manager at a multinational firm had no idea, working from home can be so difficult. A father of two school-going kids, Aniket could hardly find any time for relaxation since the lockdown. His day starts rather early, two hours earlier than his usual day, when his young five-year-old son drags him from the bed to help attend to nature’s call at around 5 every morning. Aniket then walks out of the house carrying the garbage bag to dispose it to the nearby community garbage bin. He has to do it before 6 am so that his wife can work in a clean kitchen sans the garbage. Since the lockdown had started, ther maids too were asked to take leave till the situation returned to normal. Before he starts working on his laptop, he would help his wife feed both the children. Unlike other days, where he called it a day at around 7 pm, these days Aniket was even struggling to wrap up work at 10 pm. Which means he goes to bed past midnight only to be woken by his toddler just after five hours. Twenty days of juggling household chores and office work, along with sleep deprivation, was driving Aniket nuts and finally he had no option but to seek help from a professional counsellor.

“Aniket is not alone. Recently, we have been getting calls from people who are caught helpless under the mounting pressure of managing a house and doing office work at the same time. With no support staff or maids to help them in their chores, they are like doing double the work at the same time,” said senior counseling psychologist Shweta Singh, adding, “It comes as no wonder that these people are either compromising with their mental peace or sleep. Stress along with sleep deprivation is a big no no.”

According to a study conducted by Wakefit.co, Bengaluru-based sleep solutions startup, about 67 per cent of people in India with more people now sleeping after 11 pm than prior to the start of the lockdown period. Over 81 per cent of the respondents believe their sleep schedule will be better once the lockdown ends, according to the study which involved 1,500 people.

While 46 per cent of the respondents used to sleep before 11 pm prior to the lockdown, now only 39 per cent go to bed before 11 pm.

Similarly, about 25 per cent of the respondents used to go to bed post 12 at night during normal circumstances, post the lockdown, 35 per cent have started going to bed after 12. This indicates a 40 per cent rise in late night sleepers since the lockdown.

Coronavirus related concerns like job security, managing finances at this time and worrying about family/friends’ security accounted for most sleepless nights among respondents, with 49 per cent staying up because of these issues, said the study.

(With inputs from IANS)