Advertisement

Singapore listed as the most fatigued country in the world, according to a survey

Singaporeans are most fatigued in the world, according to UK bed manufacturer Sleepseeker, in a survey.
(PHOTO: Getty Images)

Singaporeans love being number one, but recently, we have been given a new number one that we didn’t see it coming — the most fatigued country in the world.

According to a research by UK bed manufacturer Sleepseeker, Singapore leads in the overall fatigue score at 7.2 out of 10, with Mexico and Brazil in second and third place at 7.01 and 6.28 points, respectively. However, Singapore reigns second in the number of hours worked per year at 2,238 hours compared to Mexico’s 2,255 hours.

Explaining that Singapore “is a bustling tech hub that has experienced rapid and widespread urbanisation”, the article concludes that the “busy lives of Singaporeans reflect this, leading to high levels of fatigue.” Furthermore, the long working hours is believed to “take its toll on anyone, leading to feelings of fatigue.”

Among the countries on the list, Japan, known for its culture of long working hours, was ranked number five on the most fatigue list, scoring 5.32 out of 10. In comparison, the Japanese working force clocks only 1,738 working hours annually, 500 hours lesser than the average Singaporean.

To compare which countries were the most fatigued, the researchers had used a combination of four different variables — the amount of time slept in each country from Statista; amount of screen time from BusinessFibre.co.uk; the number of work hours per year from Wikipedia; and search data from Google Keyword Planner. Each country was then given a normalised score out of 10 on each of the four factors, before taking an average ‘fatigue score’ across all four.

And while everyone knows that sleep is incredibly important for our mental and physical health, not many people are clocking the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep every night. The statistics also showed how other factors such as the number of hours worked and average screen time per day will affect how tired a person would feel.

Aside from work, Singaporeans spent an average of seven hours and two minutes on the Internet, making us the third most digitally connected population. The article, hence, suggests limiting the amount of time spent on the Internet, thereby allowing “Singaporeans to get much better quality sleep and reduce their feelings of fatigue.”

Maybe this upcoming weekend is a good time for you to unplug and relax, catching up on sleep and taking a break from being hyper-connected!