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These are the most sleep-deprived cities in the world

Every morning when that alarm goes off, many of us groan, roll over and slap the snooze button for just FIVE MORE MINUTES of sleep before dragging ourselves out of bed to start the day.

It seems many of us just can’t get enough shut-eye, and a new study from Mornings.co.uk dug into Twitter data in order to find out which countries and cities around the world get the most (and least) sleep.

woman after bad sleep
Do you live in a sleep-deprived city? Photo: Getty

While all humans generally need 7 to 9 hours of sleep, the quality and quantity of sleep differ from city to city, country to country.

Sleep patterns can be affected by any number of regional differences-climate, medicine, access to electricity etc, and these have continued to evolve throughout human history.

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To determine how sleep habits vary around the world, they estimated the average wake-up times and bedtimes of people in over 130 countries using geotagged tweets from Twitter API.

By extracting tweets containing the hashtags #goodmorning and #goodnight, they were able to estimate average wake-up times and bedtimes for Twitter users around the world and determine how long an average night’s sleep is in each country.

The study has revealed some eye-opening data.

Woman laying in bed and checking updates on smartphone. Face and bed illuminated by light emitted from display. Screen addiction and modern technologies, FOMO.
Our social media habits reveal a lot about our sleep. Photo: Getty

Aussie Sleep Stats

And how does Australia fare compared to other countries?

The study revealed that Aussies go to bed around 11:26 PM, and wake at 8:18 AM, giving Aussies a solid 8hrs and 52 minutes of sleep.

Melbournians sleep a restful 8hrs, 29m, while Sydney-Siders get a less impressive 7hrs, 58m worth of sleep each night.

The cities that never sleep

It’s no surprise that the Big Apple takes the top spot for the city that has the most sleep-deprived people on the planet, living up to its "City That Never Sleeps" reputation.

Night Owls in NYC, USA only get around 5 hours and 19 minutes of sleep each night.

Other cities that have sleepy-heads getting less sleep than average are Dhaka, Bangladesh(5hrs, 28 m), Chicago, USA (5hrs, 29 m), Amman, Jordan(5hrs, 33m) and Miami, USA (5hrs, 37m).

new york city that never sleeps
The city that never sleeps is just that, according to this study. Photo: Getty

Many of the cities with the most night owls are known for their robust nightlife.

Metros like Amsterdam, New York and Berlin, where roughly one in five tweets hashtagged #goodnight are sent after midnight, appear in almost any list of cities with the best nightlife. Berlin is home to numerous clubs open 24 hours a day, and in 2013 Amsterdam issued its first 24-hour nightlife permit.

Cities who get the most shut-eye

Bangalore, India takes the top spot for the city that gets the most sleep, with the average Twitter user clocking 11hours and 3 minutes of sleep, followed closely by Guadalajara, Mexico (11hrs), Kuwait City, Kuwait (10hrs, 54m) tying with Delhi, India(10hrs, 54m) and Lisbon, Portugal (10hrs, 52m).

While dense urban areas have more noise, light and air pollution than smaller cities, data does not show that more crowded metros get worse sleep. In fact, Bangalore, Guadalajara, Delhi, Monterrey, Mumbai, and Chennai, where Twitter users all get at least 10 and a half hours of shut-eye a night, all rank among the 40 most densely populated cities in the world. Meanwhile, a majority of the cities getting the least sleep are relatively low density and in the United States.

sleep in cities around the world
How well does the world sleep? Photo: Supplied

How Countries Sleep

The Middle East and Central Asia get the most sleep of any region, at an estimated 9 hours and 42 minutes.

North America gets the least sleep of any continent, at an average of 8 hours and 11 minutes.

Of the nine countries that get at least 11 hours of sleep, five are in Europe - Spain, Austria, Georgia, Portugal and Luxembourg.

Within the United States, residents of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota; New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Burlington, Vermont, get the most sleep. Meanwhile, residents of Detroit, New York, Tampa, Chicago, and Las Vegas sleep the least.

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