New technologies leave Indians sleepless

India is quick to embrace hi-tech gadgetry, but apparently its citizens are taking this love affair too far. Many are sacrificing precious sleep to play with their laptops and cell phones.

With time zones meaning little in the virtual world, countless Indians are staying up late into the night, often with considerable side effects.

“I don’t feel sleepy at night. In the morning I feel drowsy at work, and when I drive I have some problems,” computer addict Shekhar Kanojia said.

Doctors say he suffers from a condition called Bad sleep Hygiene. Late night habits mean the body clock is being reset too often and the body is not getting enough rest.

“It takes the body three to seven days to adapt and if you change as soon as you adapt you hit a chronic pattern that you cannot sleep when you feel like sleeping and feel sleepy when you are awake,” Dr. Rajiv Sharma MD said.

Modern technology blamed

“Of course with the technology 24-7 the organisations are reachable, bosses are reachable, anybody – your clients are reachable. So you are always on your toes,” Indrani Nath from Reliance Communications said.

But it is not necessarily work-related matters that are keeping people up. Plenty of others are shackled to their computers deep into the night, either chatting, surfing the Web or playing videogames.

Technology may bring great benefits, but those who don't know when to switch off often pay with their health.