By Gabriela Baron
For some Filipinos, a decent sleep has become an almost unattainable luxury, perhaps due to traffic or long working hours.
A recent survey conducted by Sleep Cycle, a popular sleep tracking application, found out that the Philippines ranks as the fourth most sleepless country in the world.
Filipinos' average hours of sleep range from six hours and 30 minutes to six hours and 45 minutes per day.
That is much less than the recommended span of The American National Sleep Foundation for adults, which is between seven and nine hours a day.
Sleep deprivation may put one's mental and physical health at risk, causing short-term and long-term memory loss, mood swings, anxiety and depression, inability to focus, weight gain, and others.
Sleep expert Dr. Catherine Darley suggests solutions to improve one's sleep.
"If there's some feature of your bedroom that's disrupting your sleep, change it. Invest in a comfortable bed and linens and put blackout shades on the windows. Remove any projects, clutter, or visible LEDs."
Meanwhile, citizens from New Zealand, Finland, Netherlands, Australia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, and Ireland reach over seven hours and 30 minutes of sleep on average.
At the bottom of the list along with the Philippines are Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Egypt, and Peru.