40% of adults in Germany sleep poorly: survey

Around 40% of adults in Germany say they sleep badly, according to a survey conducted by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of dpa.

A total of 10% said they slept "not at all well" and 30% said they slept "rather not well." In contrast, 45% said they slept "rather well" and 13% said they slept "very well." The rest did not give any information.

According to the survey, men sleep better than women: 62% of the male respondents said their sleep was "rather good/very good," and 55% of the women.

In addition, while a total of 7% "never" have problems falling asleep or staying awake longer at night, 24% said this happens to them "rarely," 33% said "sometimes," 20% "often" and 14% "very often," while 2% did not give any information.

Here, too, women have a harder time, with 40% of the female respondents tending to have "frequent" and "very frequent" sleep problems, compared to only 28% of the men.

The data used is based on an online survey by YouGov Deutschland, in which 2,442 people took part from August 2 to 4. The results were weighted and are representative of the population in Germany aged 18 and over.

More than half of adults in Germany would like to take a nap more often, the survey found further.

To the question "Would you like to take a nap (more often)?" 18% answered "very much" and 37% "gladly." On the other hand, 15% said they would "not at all" and 26% that they would "rather not." The rest made no statement.

There are more fans of napping at noon in the east of the country at 60% than in the west, where it was 54%. Moreover, the desire for a midday nap is somewhat greater among women than among men. One in five women would "very much like" to have one more often, compared to 15% of men.

Overall, however, the tendency is the same for women and men, because if you add up the answers of those who would "very much like" and "like" to sleep more often at noon, you would get 55% for men and 54% for women.

While only 16% and 15% of older adults - that is those over 55 - and young adults - the 18 to 24-year-olds - would like to take a nap more often, the figure for the 45-54 age group is higher at 22%.