Samsung Electronics: "Sleep Duration Increased During Pandemic, But Quality Decreased"

Samsung Health Reaches 10 Million Users: Comparative Study Results During Pandemic
South Korea's Population Sleep Quality Improved but Still Below Global Average

[Source=Samsung Electronics]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-sun] Due to changes in lifestyle habits during the COVID-19 pandemic, people worldwide have increased their sleep duration, but actual sleep efficiency has generally declined, according to a recent survey. Although the quality of sleep among Koreans has improved, it still remains below the global average. 'Sleep efficiency' is a value measured as a percentage of actual sleep time excluding awake time during the total sleep period.

According to a comparison and survey conducted by Samsung Electronics on 10 million users of the health management application 'Samsung Health' between the pre-pandemic period (January 2018 to March 2020) and post-pandemic period (March 2020 to June 2021), the average global sleep duration before the pandemic was 6 hours and 56 minutes, which increased to 7 hours and 2 minutes afterward. Sleep efficiency decreased from 87.86% to 87.79%.

By gender, men's sleep duration increased more than women's. Men's sleep time rose from 6 hours and 49 minutes to 6 hours and 55 minutes, an increase of 6 minutes, while women's increased from 7 hours and 11 minutes to 7 hours and 12 minutes, a 1-minute increase. However, in terms of sleep efficiency, men experienced a larger decrease from 88.74% to 88.62% compared to women (87.46% to 87.21%).

By age group, except for those under 20, all age groups showed an increase of 6 to 7 minutes. Sleep efficiency mostly decreased across age groups as well. However, for those aged 20 to 39, sleep efficiency slightly increased after the pandemic.

[Source=Samsung Electronics]

By country, South Korea showed the largest increase in sleep duration during the pandemic, from 6 hours and 24 minutes to 6 hours and 41 minutes, and sleep efficiency rose from 86.09% to 86.73%. However, these figures still fall short of the global average (7 hours and 2 minutes, 87.79%). The country with the longest sleep duration was France (7 hours and 26 minutes), and the country with the highest sleep efficiency was Argentina (88.55%).

Samsung Electronics explained, "Although the average healthy sleep duration for adults is generally known to be 8 hours per day, the ‘quality of sleep’ may be more important than the sleep duration itself," adding, "Measuring sleep patterns can be the first step to better understanding one’s sleep and helping to achieve better sleep."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.