According to this year’s inaugural Sleep Survey by Am Life International Sdn Bhd, a substantial 31% of respondents said they felt sleepy throughout the day. Also, 46% said they’d wake up in the middle of the night and 32% said they felt tired and unrested in the morning.

According to a report in The Edge, 66% of those surveyed said they faced such problems at least once a week. The report, however, did not give the number of people surveyed or when the survey took place.

The Edge said the survey showed that the average Malaysian slept 6.3 hours, although the recommendation was for seven to nine hours of sleep a night. Also, four out of ten took more than 30 minutes to sleep, even though the normal rate is 10 to 20 minutes.

“Six in 10 Malaysians claimed that having an unhealthy lifestyle and spending too much time on phones have also caused them difficulty in falling asleep and staying asleep,” Am Life said in presenting the results.

Additionally, 52% said they were unable to sleep due to stress, anxiety and depression, while 26% blamed it on environmental issues.

The report added that the top five consequences of sleep disorders included having a headache (40%), fatigue (37%), trouble thinking or concentrating (37%), shoulder or neck pain (33%), and temperament and mood swings (26%).

The Edge quoted Lew Mun Yee, president and founder of Am Life International, as saying: “People are beginning to take sleep quality very seriously. The relation to one’s health is strongly linked to good sleep having been established firmly in people’s mind.

“The market will continue to grow with good momentum and the ‘quality sleep market’ industry will be a major trend in the future.”

According to The Edge, Am Life was set up in 2012 by Lew to address poor sleep quality, insomnia and health problems globally.