Last week an interesting article was published in the newspapers here in Denmark. It seems that Danes are chronically tired.A survey that was made for Hotels.com, used the answers of 1667 Danes, investigating their sleeping habits. Apparently, stress has affected their sleeping pattern and today they get about one hour less sleep on average than 100 years ago. This effects not just their professional and personal life, but also can be a contributing factor to work place accidents and traffic accidents. Furthermore, the sleep deprivation extends over all ages, meaning that students in schools suffer from lack of sleep as well.
All this results in the fact that Danes fall asleep in places and in situations, where they really should stay awake.
So, what are the top 6 odd places that the Danes fall asleep at?
1) 19% at lectures in schools or universities.
2) 17% in the cinema.
3) 15% in meeting at a workplace.
4) 12% while sitting on a toilet.
5) 12% while on a buss or train, while commuting to and from school or work.
6) 5% while attending church.
I have to admit, that I too have fallen asleep in all the places mention above, except the toilet.;)
The most difficult place to keep awake at is definitely meetings and lectures, they are like sleeping pills for me.
I have additionally also fallen asleep at parties, while lying at a pool or on a beach. Once I fell asleep on the buss while on the way to work and missed my stop. That was a bit embarrassing.
14 comments:
Whenever I attend a seminar or a lecture, I always sit at the front or as near to the speaker as I can get. It's not because I'm enthusiastic, it's because it's hard to fall asleep there. At the back it's all too easy to doze off.
Then again, I've seen a few people doze off in the front row of a lecture hall. I pray I won't be one of them.
I average sleeping 6 hours a night, sometimes less, rarely more. I don't go to bed until late but if I get in bed earlier I wake up earlier. I never use an alarm clock because there is no danger of over sleeping. I do take lunch hour naps in my car. I've scared myself by almost falling asleep while driving home from work. Eeeeeks.
Sleep is SO important...and it is one of the few things I do really well. I sleep about 7 hours every night and always feel rested and ready to go when I wake up(well, a jolt of coffee helps with that, too).
I don't know that I have ever fallen asleep in a public place like in the list...I would be mortified if I fell asleep at work! I can see how one could fall asleep on a long busride, though. I do sometimes drift off at the beach, when lying in the sun.
Interesting. I would love to get a full 8 hours of sleep a night but somehow that never happens...I'm always waking up and I'm lucky if I get 5 hours! A slump comes over me about 3 in the afternnoon and I feel like I need a nap.....or a really strong cup of coffee!
Thanks for your lovely comment on my blog! Much appreciated. ;-) Also, I have passed on the Fabulous Blog Award to you! You have a wonderful blog and I always look forward to a new post to read all the time!
I can't remember any "strange" place that I fell asleep at other than work. BUT, I do admit that I fall asleep in the car very easily (if I am not driving). This happens whether I have my full 8 hours of sleep or not!
xoxo, Shelly
I KNEW I was Danish deep down!
I always fall asleep during the commute to and from work. hehe.
But falling asleep in the cinema? Ms. Z! wouldnt that be a waste of the money you paid for the ticket? hehe..
xx
V
I do get sleepy at lectures, church, bus or train, and even at work (especially after lunch), but have never on the toilet!! That's really an odd place. How long would one have to be there to fall asleep?! :-))
I have never fallen asleep to those places mentioned. Even in school, cinema, bus etc.. I have only fallen asleep in the car (of course, I'm the passenger) hehe. i easily feel uneasy and uncomfortable sleeping to odd places. :)
I'm surprised falling asleep in church is only 5%!
The toilet? I suppose if really ill, maybe. Just can't imagine it though.
I routinely fell asleep during a two week period when I was on a jury. I thought about how awful it was when I was supposed to be doing my duty as a juror but the judge said that over the course of three days, each and every one of us had nodded off at some point. There was some very boring testimony - all done with a translator so it was long and drawn out. But I stayed awake during bathroom breaks. ;)
=Tom,
I so know what you mean! What is it about the lecture halls? I distinctly remember being at international conferences, and I was pretty much pushing my nails into the palms of my hands to stay awake. I honestly think this is the only place I feel I am fainting or sleeping with my eyes open. The odd thing is that I am not tired at all entering the lecture, but once it starts I feel like I have been sedated.;)
=steviewren,
only 6h, wow! When I only get 6h for extended period of time, I get chronically tired. I am amazed that you can wake up without an alarm, that is really a privilege, as there is nothing worse than being woken up by this torture device.;)
=Tina,
I agree, sleep is actually vital for our health. I need at least 8h, in winter I am feeling best if I sleep 10h. Yup, that is weird, but true. I think it might have to do with the lack of light this far up north. I know that now occasionally, I wake up about 5 minutes before the alarm rings, due to the light. In summer I wake up this way every day.;) But in winter, I feel like someone is torturing me when the alarm rings.:P
=Donna,
yes, 8h is the magic number. 5h seems a bit to little.;)) But thank heavens we have our coffee right? And you have all those lovely mugs to drink it from as well.;)) I need my coffee around that time too, that is the vital coffee break at 3PM at work.;) xoxo
=Shelly,
thank you so much for that lovely award, it is displayed on my sidebar now.;) That was very nice of you and thank you for those lovely compliments.;))
I never fall asleep in the car as a passenger, as I am a control freak!;) I need to watch the driver and the road, I am weird that way.:P But my mother and my sister both happily fall asleep as soon as the car starts rolling!;) So I was the one who always kept my father company on long haul trips.;)
=Diane,
I take it you too fall asleep at all those places; good for you, means you have good nerves.;))) Or "golden nerves" as we say in Slavic.;))
=Valentine,
so true! I am terrible:P I have fallen asleep in the cinema only once. I had a girlfriend visiting me here and we went out on a Saturday night and it was the most unlucky night ever! Where ever we went, things were closed or boring. I think she has never had a more boring Saturday evening. We ended up having a late meal at Burger King instead of a fancy dinner and instead of going to a bar we went to a late cinema show (at midnight) and saw "The motorcycle Diaries". Not even the hunky Gael García Bernal could keep me awake. I slept through the whole movie and as we were the only ones in the cinema, I am sure she noticed. Hehe.:PPP
=Claus,
I am with you on that one, that is indeed an odd place to sleep at. I would fall of the thing, I have no idea who falls asleep there.;))
=Noelle,
sweetie, give it a few more years.;)) I remember being so surprised how my mother could fall asleep in front of the TV when I was in my 20s. Now I constantly drift away sitting there. And I fall asleep other places as well, places that I would never fall asleep at when young.;)
=Hazel,
I think that has to do with that the church attendance here is relatively low. I am sure the number would be higher otherwise.;))
=Hilary,
my sentiments exactly, who can sleep there? I feel that is a really weird place too.
LOL falling asleep on your jury duty. But I so get that, it must be similar to being at a lecture. It is like you can not imagine it, but once you are there, you feel almost hypnotized to sleep.;))
It's kind of odd, really, since supposedly we now have all those labor saving devices our grannies didn't have, so supposedly we have plenty of time to be rested. I do remember one time our youth group had a slumber party for the girls and of course we didn't sleep, then the next day we all went to church together. Our youth leader marched us in and sat us on the front row, and none of us could stay awake. It was awful! Normally I wouldn't sleep in church. Maybe it is because it is peaceful there that people do?
=Rosezilla,
that was so funny! I can so understand how difficult it must have been to stay awake. I remember when I was a child my parents took me to the midnight mass on Christmas Eve. It was so peaceful and warm in the church that I drifted away and fell asleep. So I sure do understand that very well.;))
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