Sleep and Rest in Japan and the World

Sleep and Rest 

While sleeping is common all around the world, some may not be able to sleep for as long as the others. For example, children may have an easier time falling asleep when compared to an adult and there are truths to this. When I was a child sleeping came so easily to me, I could probably sleep for over 9 hours as a child, whereas now even though I can still sleep through the night without waking up for no reason, I find myself waking up at a very specific time in the morning regardless of what time I fell asleep the night prior. Not to mention, now when I am older, if I sleep too much, I would wake up with headaches which has something to do with our body's serotonin levels as according to the sleep foundation organization website (Meadows, 2025). As according to the Continental Hospitals website, children needs more sleep then adults due to the growth of the brain as sleep helps support brain growth (Continental Hospitals, 2025).


Japan is one of the most sleep deprived nations in the world as many adults sleep on average of about 6 hours according to the ResMed Global Sleep Survey 2026 (ResMed Co. Ltd, 2026). Although there aren't any latest study on sleep in Brunei, however, a study published in 2024 discuss the sleep of adolescents in Brunei and the results shown 52% of the people involved in the study having poor sleep quality (Naing et al., 2024). Japan has a culture of napping called "Inemuri" which means sleeping while present, is view as a sign of exhaustion from hard work, taking a nap in the office or on the train is normal in Japan. Whereas in Brunei if we were to take naps in public places like the park, we would earn some stares from people. For Bruneians, although napping is considered normal, you would not be able to find them napping in public rather they would probably be napping in the comforts of their homes. In Brunei, on Fridays between 12pm and 2pm all shops, businesses and restaurants, would close due to the Friday prayers, during that time most people would return home to have lunch and some would take a short nap before going back to work for the day. Although there is no actual proof online to show that people do nap during this time, but based on the conversation I have had with friends in the past, quite a lot of Bruneian people do nap in the afternoon. I believe both Japan and Brunei do view afternoon naps (Hirune) as a wise and restorative way to go on with the day. 


Video insights

The YouTube short do show how the Japanese view nodding off in a Japanese company is a sign of hard work to the point of exhaustion, it does show an exaggerated view of this as I don't think people would actually call others to look at how someone nods off at work. In the video that talks about Inemuri, I do find it amazing that people are about to take naps while standing up and that these people know to wake up before reaching their stop. Based on the long hours that the Japanese work, I don't think I would be able to handle it. Before this, I had interned at a company back in my home country and for 2 weeks I had to work overtime and it was exhausting but the Japanese have to work overtime almost everyday and I just cannot imagine the exhaustion. In the documentary, they mentions sleeping on the floor, while Chinese does have something similar to that in the past, it is not practiced anymore unless it in rural areas of China. As for Brunei, most house's flooring is made of concrete and tiles which makes sleeping on the floor painful, if they were to sleep on the floor a thick mattress would be laid on the floor and people would sleep like that but it is not common to find this in Brunei as most people have bed frames. It is mention in the documentary that students do not sleep until late at night due to studying, in Brunei it may not be due to studying, some just like to stay up late to make up for the "personal time" lost during the day. There is also the night life after the Japanese finishes work early, they would most likely end up drinking the night away whereas in Brunei, work usually finishes between 5pm to 6pm and afterwards people would just go home, this may as be due to the fact that drinking alcohol in public in Brunei is illegal as the laws bans selling and buying alcohol in Brunei.


References

Meadows, A. (2025, July 10). Causes and Effects of Oversleeping. Sleep Foundation. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/oversleeping

Continental Hospitals. (2025, November 13). Why kids need more sleep than adults. https://continentalhospitals.com/blog/why-kids-need-more-sleep-than-adults/

ResMed Co., Ltd. (2026, March 3). 3月13日は「世界睡眠デー」Resmed（レスメド）、「レスメド 世界睡眠調査2026」を発表." https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000028.000093479.html


Naing, L., Hassen, S., Sharimawati Sharbini, Zaidah Rizidah Murang, Teo, N., & Tahir, Z. M. (2024). The relationship between the use of screen-based devices and self-reported sleep quality in adolescents aged 13–19 years in Brunei. BMC Public Health, 24(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-20453-5


Comments

  1. 2026 Elvina's Blog27 April 2026 at 23:18

    Very insightful comparison between Japan and Brunei, thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete

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