Scientists warn of ‘global sleep crisis’ after research gathered from smartphone app

Social pressures are forcing people to cut back on their sleep, contributing to a “global sleep crisis”, according to a new study based on research collected through a smartphone app.

It enabled scientists from the University of Michigan to track sleep patterns around the world – gathering data about how age, gender and the amount of natural light to which people are exposed affect sleep patterns in 100 countries – and better understand how cultural pressures can override biological rhythms.

“The effects of society on sleep remain largely unquantified,” says the study published on Friday in the journal Science Advances.

“We find that social pressures weaken and/or conceal biological drives in the evening, leading individuals to delay their bedtime and shorten their sleep.”

Lack of sleep is mostly affected by the time people go to bed, the study found.