World Zzzzz Day, and sleepy in Singapore!

It seems that, every day, there is a "World ------ (fill in the blank) Day". One cartoon strip even took a dig at it:

Well, 16 March is World Sleep Day, a day set aside in celebration of sleep.

Singaporeans are already adept at this "activity" (or should it be "inactivity"?)... they fall asleep sitting or standing on the buses and on the trains. In fact, some (not many, thankfully) young people here have perfected a particular skill: they rush to get to the train's corner seats reserved for those who need them -- such as the elderly and pregnant women -- and promptly zzzzzzzzzz away, oblivious to the elderly woman standing right in front of them.

That's not all. They may seem to be asleep but they have a built-in alarm that "wakes" them up at their train stop.

I never knew that there is a Singapore Sleep Society. Such a name may conjure up wacky thoughts, but its mission statement (from its website) is a serious one:

"Our Society is a non-profit organization and our primary objectives are as follows:

• to develop understanding and acceptance of sleep disorders and to disseminate knowledge concerning sleep disorders to the medical community and the public;
• to provide moral support and such assistance necessary to sleep disorders patients and/or their families; and
• to promote and support medical research on sleep disorders."

So, no puns from me on this one. In fact, the society is organising Singapore Sleep Awareness Week 2012. Again, from its website:

This year's theme, "Sleep for All Ages", will discuss how sleep deprivation affects performance for people across all age groups, from children and teenagers, to adults and the elderly.

Note: The society's inaugural event was in 2010. So, if the next one is in 2014, this makes it a biennial event, hor! (see yesterday's blog entry.)

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Here's an interesting Yahoo News article last year (2011) on sleep, titled "Get more sleep, Singapore":

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/blogs/what-is-buzzing/more-sleep-singapore-20110317-043354-518.html

It included this extract:

The Singapore Sleep Society surveyed nearly 400 junior college students and found that 97 per cent feel drowsy during class and three in 10 drink caffeinated beverages to stay awake during the day.

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So, if that finding applies to young office workers here too, that explains why there are sleep junkies on the trains!