Uses of Time

» The report “Health in Barcelona 2023”, prepared by the Barcelona Public Health Agency (ASPB), reveals a worrying trend in the sleeping habits of Barcelona residents.

» In the last 40 years, the average number of hours of sleep in adults has decreased by an average of 30 minutes

» Establishing a regular sleep schedule and avoiding intense physical activity and heavy meals before bed or limiting the use of electronic devices are some of the recommendations for better sleep.

The report “Health in Barcelona 2023”, prepared by the Barcelona Public Health Agency (ASPB), includes the most relevant data on the Barcelona population during 2023, as well as the evolution of these indicators over the last few years.

The Barcelona Public Health Agency, which is responsible for the city’s public health functions, prepares this annual report with the aim of understanding the state of the population’s health and proposing actions to improve it. This year is the 40th edition of the report, so it includes an assessment of how the health of Barcelona’s citizens has evolved since then.

The document notes a significant improvement in many of the citizens’ health indicators, while identifying new challenges to be taken into account in order to continue advancing in the development of policies aimed at improving the health and quality of life of the population.

More time to sleep, a challenge for a healthier city

One of the indicators that has changed the most in recent years is that of hours of sleep: in the population aged 20 or over, the average number of hours of sleep per day has decreased by approximately 30 minutes between 1986 and 2021. Regarding the gender variable, no significant differences are identified, since, while women have gone from sleeping 7:32 hours a day to an average of 7, in the case of men they have gone from sleeping from 7:36 hours to 6.9.

According to the report, the decrease in hours of sleep is attributed to several factors:

• Accelerated and stressed society.
• Job insecurity and overwork.
• Difficulties in work-life balance.
• Excessive use of the Internet and electronic devices.
• Overload of domestic work and care, especially in women.
• Environmental factors such as urban heat islands and noise, often aggravated by poor home insulation.

Inequalities in sleep patterns

The report highlights significant social inequalities in sleep patterns that are interrelated with variables such as social class, gender or age:

• The less well-off social classes are more likely to sleep less than 7 hours a day.
• Women report poorer sleep quality than men.
• 6% of women and 23.5% of men report poor sleep quality, the prevalence of which increases with age.

Impact on health

Lack of adequate sleep is related to various individual and collective health problems: recent studies have linked the hours and quality of sleep with various health problems such as acute myocardial infarctions, strokes, hypertension, overweight, obesity, diabetes, mental health problems or neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Thus, sleeping the necessary hours (between 7 and 9 for adults) and with good quality are key elements for our health. Therefore, some basic recommendations to sleep better and align ourselves with our biological rhythms would be:

• Establish a regular sleep schedule, go to bed and get up at the same time every day.
• Avoid intense physical activity before bedtime.
• Limit the consumption of heavy and liquid meals before bedtime, and allow 2–3 hours between the last meal and bedtime.
• Reduce the use of electronic devices before sleeping, since the blue light from screens affects our circadian rhythm.