世論 What Japan Thinks

Having previously looked with DIMSDRIVE Ranking at average sleep times, and more recently with goo Ranking on avoiding nodding off at the wheel, this time let’s look at drowsiness with DIMSDRIVE Ranking’s 115th survey – how often one feels drowsy, at what time of the day one feels drowsy, and what one does to counter drowsiness.

I get drowsy about 9pm or so most nights, but I just have to try to endure it until bed time, although looking at the survey it only deals with sleepiness during the day time. It’s quite amazing, however, that at least one colleague at least once per week falls asleep during meetings, or at least closes his eyes and appears to be lightly dozing. When there is mass meetings, mass snoozing is never far behind, although that might be due to the majority of speakers being deathly dull…

Ranking results

Q1: About how often do you feel drowsy during the day? (Sample size=3,546)

	All	Male N=1,703	Female N=1,843
Almost every day (to SQs)	33.3%	31.2%	35.2%
Four or five days a week (to SQs)	10.3%	10.0%	10.7%
Two or three days a week (to SQs)	28.1%	29.2%	27.1%
One day a week (to SQs)	9.1%	8.5%	9.6%
Two or three days a month (to SQs)	6.3%	5.8%	6.7%
One day a month (to SQs)	1.5%	1.8%	1.2%
Less than that	4.7%	5.3%	4.2%
Don’t feel drowsy during daytime	6.7%	8.2%	5.3%

Looking at the age bands, over a third of men in their twenties and thirties felt drowsy every day, whilst for women all age groups bar those in their fifties had more than a third feeling drowsy every day.

Q1SQ1: Around what times of day do you often feel drowsy? (Sample size=3,141, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=1,473	Female N=1,668
Around 9 am	6.9%	5.8%	8.0%
Around 10 am	10.0%	9.0%	10.9%
Around 11 am	9.8%	9.6%	10.0%
Around noon	8.2%	10.6%	6.0%
Around 1 pm	30.9%	33.1%	29.1%
Around 2 pm	49.5%	48.8%	50.2%
Around 3 pm	31.7%	31.8%	31.6%
Around 4 pm	14.4%	12.4%	16.2%
Around 5 pm	6.9%	5.2%	8.5%
Around 6 pm	5.3%	4.8%	5.6%

There was perhaps surprisingly little variation by age, except perhaps for men over sixty, who did seem significantly less sleepy, which perhaps might be explained by having a number of retired people in this group.

Q1SQ2: What do you do when you feel drowsy during the day? (Sample size=3,141, free answer)

Rank		Votes
1	Sleep or nap	713
2	Drink coffee	291
3	Endure it	250
4	Move my body	215
5	Chew gum	162
6	Wash face or hands	130
7	Drink something (other than coffee or tea)	90
8	Go for a walk	86
9	Go to the toilet	62
10	Get some fresh air	57

Going to the toilet might include having a quiet nap in there…

Q1SQ2: What do you do when you feel drowsy during the day? (Sample size=3,141, free answer)

Rank	Male N=1,473	Votes	Female N=1,668	Votes
1	Sleep or nap	244	Sleep or nap	469
2	Endure it	141	Drink coffee	150
3	Drink coffee	141	Move my body	144
4	Wash face or hands	99	Endure it	109
5	Chew gum	83	Chew gum	79
6	Move my body	71	Drink something (other than coffee or tea)	57
7	Go for a walk	55	Go to the toilet	36
8	Smoke a cigarette	45	Wash face or hands	31
9	Drink something (other than coffee or tea)	33	Go for a walk	31
10	Get some fresh air	32	Drink green tea	29