After Ajay ended his Lucknow to Delhi journey by Rajdhani Express, he could hardly bear the severe headache. He 'had to play mobile games whole night' as he was not able to sleep due to 'sound' sleep of fellow passengers. For call-centre executive Pragati Dubey, a resident of Gomtinagar, her bed-time starts only after 4am. Getting back home from her work at around 2 am, she keeps up till sleep gets over her - sometimes well past dawn.

Ajay and Pragati are a fast-growing tribes of insomniac Indians. According to a study conducted by a consumer products giant, nearly 93% Indians are sleep-deprived. The changing lifestyle and intrusion of modern gadgets have only aggravated the situation. In Lucknow district alone, the number of sleep disorder-affected patients could be well over 40 lakh, say doctors at King George's Medical University.

To mark the importance of a good sleep, World Sleep Day is being organized every March since 2008. This year, Friday, March 13, has been selected to encourage education, research and patient care throughout the world, particularly in those parts where the practice of sleep medicine is less developed.

"The need for proper medical attention towards attaining good sleep is growing as we see shrinking schedules and lack of time," said Dr Ved Prakash of KGMU. Pauses in breathing while sleep is affecting the quality which is medically termed as sleep apnea - a disorder characterized by infrequent breathing during sleep.

"Sleep apnea and insomnia are among common sleep disorders which constitutes to majority of sleep disorders. There are around 84 qualified sleep disorders but all the sleep problems can be housed into three categories viz. people who sleep too much or excessive daytime sleepiness, people who sleep less or insomnia and those whose sleep disturbs others," says Udit Goyal, business head - home healthcare (South Asia) at Philips HealthTech. Goyal added that the sleep therapy market in India is growing at the rate of 20 per cent and currently stands at Rs 80 crores.

The study further says that 72% of Indians are waking up one to three times per night and 87% of them say lack of sleep is affecting health. On the impact on productivity, the study revels that more than 58% of Indians believe their work suffers due to lack of adequate sleep whereas 38% have witnessed a colleague falling asleep at work.

"Food habits, lack of exercise, irregular sleep and varying working styles are basic reasons of sleep apnea. Interestingly, patients don't take sleep disorders seriously which is a cause behind many other ailments including obesity, hypertension and diabetes," said Dr Ved Prakash, adding "Patients often come for the treatment of hypertension and diabetes while upon diagnosis it is revealed that sleep apnea is one of the basic reasons for this disorder."

* 93 per cent of Indians are sleep deprived, getting less than 8 hours per night
* 58 per cent believe their work suffers due to lack of adequate sleep
* 11 per cent take leave from work because of lack of sleep
* 11 per cent have fallen asleep at work due to a poor night's sleep and 38 per cent witnessed a colleague falling asleep at work
* Lack of sleep also affects family relationships according to 19 per cent
* 87 per cent of Indians say lack of sleep affects health
* 72 per cent of Indians are waking up 1 to 3 times per night
* 15 per cent wake up over stress at work
* 33 per cent Indians snore
* Up to 14 per cent snore as loud as or louder than talking
* Only 2 per cent of Indians discuss their lack of sleep with a physician
(According to a Philips Healthcare survey)