[Sleep habits, sleep quality and sleep medicine use of the Swiss population result].

A survey in a representative sample of the Swiss population revealed an average sleep duration of 7.5 hours on workdays and of 8.5 hours on free days, which reflected a more than half an hour (38 min) shorter sleep duration than 28 years ago. The mean time in bed was between 22:41 and 06:37 on workdays and between 23:29 and 08:27 on free days. On workdays as well as on free days the bedtime was delayed by 47 minutes in comparison to a similar survey 28 years ago. By contrast, the mean rise times on workdays and free days did not change. The sleep duration required to feel refreshed was indicated with 7 hours, which was 41 minutes less than 28 years ago. Roughly 90 % of the interviewees answered that they felt healthy, and 75 % described their sleep as good or very good compared to 79 % 28 years ago. The most frequent reasons stated for bad sleep were personal problems and strain at the workplace. The effect of bad quality sleep on every day functioning was considered as essential by 65 % of the respondents compared to 69 % 28 years ago. The use of medication to improve sleep was declared by 2.8 % (2.7 % 28 years ago), most often benzodiazepines, but also Valerian products and so-called z-drugs. In comparison with similar surveys in other countries (France, Great Britain and USA), Swiss residents slept roughly half an hour longer, but these other countries alike showed a sizable shortening of their habitual sleep duration over the last decades.