NZ sleepyheads show the way

New Zealanders are the sleepyheads of the Asia-Pacific area, a survey has found.

Australians are marginally earlier to bed than us but otherwise we like to be tucked up tight well ahead of all the Asian countries.

Most sleep-deprived are the Japanese.

ACNielsen surveyed 14,000 people in 28 countries, including 500 New Zealanders, in an online poll.

It found:

* About a third of Australians and New Zealanders get more than nine hours' sleep a night.

* One in five of us is in bed by 10pm. A third like to hit the pillow between 10pm and 11pm.

* By midnight, only a fifth are still awake - half the Asia-Pacific average. * The night-owls of the region are the Taiwanese. More than a third are still going at 1am. But they are also the last up - a quarter are still in bed by 9am.

When it comes to getting up, most New Zealanders are out of bed by 7am - 40 per cent set the alarm clock for between 6am and 7am.

But that is nothing compared with Indonesia, where you are unusual if you are still in bed by 6am.

"In contrast to the Asia-Pacific average of between seven and eight hours' sleep a night, Kiwis and Aussies are sleeping for longer hours," said Alistair Watts, managing director of ACNielsen Pacific.

" In Indonesia, 12 per cent get an average of five hours and 38 per cent get six hours' sleep or less.

"Most sleep-deprived are the Japanese, with 41 per cent getting six hours or less."

And what makes us go to bed early? Work. Most people get out of bed with just enough time to have breakfast and rush to our jobs.