Indians are least active and second-most sleep deprived, says Fitbit study

India has emerged as the least-active country among 18 countries including the US, the UK, Japan, and Singapore, walking an average of 6,533 steps daily, according to a report by fitness solutions firm Fitbit.

Indians were also the second-most sleep-deprived after Japan, getting an average night’s sleep of 7 hours and 1 minute, the report said on Tuesday (October 29).

Based on aggregated and anonymised user data insights from 18 countries, the Fitbit report found that “Indians are the least active and log in only 6,533 steps daily — the least amongst all 18 countries — which is 3,600 steps lesser than the average of the most active country, Hong Kong”.

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Average active minutes (32) also fare the lowest in the grid, it added. Indians also get the least amount of nightly sleep on average (after Japan) at 7 hours 1 minute, which is 48 minutes lesser than the average nightly sleep of users in the UK and 32 minutes lesser than average nightly sleep of Americans, the report said.

Ireland got the highest amount of average night sleep at 7 hours and 57 minutes. Indians get 77 minutes of REM sleep on average, which is the lowest in the world, just like Japanese, who get the same amount of average REM sleep.

Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep is a crucial aspect of emotion regulation, memory, and the peak stage of protein synthesis at the cellular level that ensures that multiple processes in the body work properly, according to the report.

Interestingly, the report found that Indian users in the age group of 75-90 got the lowest sleep (6 hours 35 minutes on average) compared to other age groups, even though users in the age group of 18-25 years went to bed more than an hour later (12:33 AM) than users in 75-90 age group (11:22 PM).