Great Indian Sleep Scorecard 2019: Sleep is that very essential refueling process of our body without which one would undoubtedly be like cars ~ running on the last drops of reserve. But, considering its importance, have we ever given much thought to how we sleep? Probably not.

Consider this: 51 per cent people in India go to sleep between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.; 16 per cent people across India believe they have insomnia; 48 per cent people complain of back problems nationally; 80 per cent people feel sleepy at work 1-3 days a week. These figures form part of a survey on sleeping habits, conducted by a sleep solutions startup, Wakefit.co, across the country. Called the Great Indian Sleep Scorecard 2019, the sleep survey saw a total of over 16,000 respondents participating, informed a spokesperson for Wakefit, which researches on sleep and spine support to create innovative products, such as memory foam mattresses and pillows, mattress protector and mattress cover.

Capital sleep

Wakefit also conducted a Delhi-specific survey. The sample size for this data was 1,700 respondents. As per this data, 52 per cent of people sleep between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m.; 31 per cent of people sleep less than seven hours; and 80 per cent of people have insomnia. Delhiites stay up at night either watching shows on laptops or smartphones (27 per cent) or scrolling on social media feeds (20 per cent). It was also found that 90 per cent people use their phones before going to sleep; 77 per cent of people feel sleepy at work 1-3 days a week; 88 per cent people wake up 1-2 times a night; and 47 per cent people complain of back pain.

The startup Launched in early 2016 and headquartered in Bangalore, Wakefit has a unique customer response driven mechanism that conducts extensive interviews to understand people’s sleep patterns and preferences, and designs products based on the same. The research and interview process began in 2015 and since then, Wakefit has interviewed thousands and ensured millions of hours of blissful sleep to its users. Lack of sleep can lead to a number of problems and especially affects your productivity. It causes fatigue, decreases concentration and takes away your happiness, the company said in a communique. The USP of the brand lies in the fact that their products are made after extensive customer interviews. Even the founders of the company visited about a 100 homes and took inputs from the customers, which were then incorporated into the product line. This customer-oriented approach underlines Wakefit’s entire operations, which forms the basis for its innovative products.

Sleeping right 

One of the root causes of poor sleep is the mattress one sleeps on. The mattress sector in India has been operating at two ends of the customer spectrum. For the affluent, urban consumer, there are 15-20 variations of different types of mattresses that are mainly available for purchase at offline stores. And for the middle-class, value conscious consumer, they have no alternative but to go to the local store and buy poor quality mattresses of adulterated materials. Essentially, there are three problems of the sector.

Firstly, there is a huge number of variations in mattress types (15-20 SKUs, or stock keeping units, in most brands) with no correlation to what customers are actually looking for.

Secondly, one finds highly inflated prices due to 2-3 layers of middlemen between the manufacturer and the retail store.

Lastly, there is no “branded” experience in terms of quality, trust and customer support.