Revealed: Belfast Is the Most Tired City in the UK

Sleep is essential for good physical and mental health. However, one Wellbeing Report found that two-thirds of UK adults suffered from disrupted sleep, while one-third of people believe they have insomnia. Now, with contributing and increasing factors such as anxiety during the pandemic, new data reveals an increasing reliance on sleep assisting chemicals.

One mattress manufacturer, OTTY Sleep, has revealed the major UK city where most people struggle to get to sleep. By researching sleep-deprived related keywords and analysing the most common terms that we ask Google, the mattress manufacturing business has collated new data that explores inter-city and regional search volumes, the sleep remedies we seek out, and how our sleeping patterns have changed since the pandemic started.

The 20 most populated cities in the UK were analysed, looking at over 400 key terms and their search volume in each. Search terms included ‘Can’t sleep’, ‘Sleeping tablets’, and ‘Insomnia’. Comparing this against their population exposes the cities where people find it most difficult to sleep. Here, we explore the results and the sleep solutions the UK must take for their own health.

Ranking the worst-rested
Belfast was confirmed as the most tired city in the UK. The Northern Irish capital searched for sleepless related terms more than any other major UK city. The people of Belfast were 38 per cent more likely to seek out help from Google than the average search score across the 20 cities. For every 100,000 people, sleep-deprived terms were searched for 1,931 times.

While Belfast sleepwalked their way into first place, they were closely followed by Newcastle upon Tyne and Plymouth, who placed second and third respectively. People in these two areas are 32 per cent and 28 per cent more likely to search for sleep-deprived terms than the average person across the UK’s major cities.

Meanwhile, some cities proved themselves more capable of a good night’s sleep than others. Surprisingly and despite being the UK’s equivalent of the city that never sleeps, London demonstrated a limited need for sleep assistance. For every 100,000 people in the English capital, there were only 693 searches per month for sleep-deprived terms. This falls 51 per cent below the UK average. As the centre of business in the UK, you could easily believe that a good night’s sleep was hard to come by. However, the people of London have proved that they don’t have too much difficulty getting their shuteye.

Other well-rested cities included Birmingham and Sheffield, where searches were 30 per cent and 19 per cent below the UK average respectively.