Sleep patterns, sociodemographic correlates, and their association with economic preferences among Indian smallholder farmers

Abstract

Abstract Sleep considerably influences a wide range of daily decisions and activities, yet sleep research largely focuses on well-off populations or relies on controlled laboratory settings. This study provides a field-based perspective on sleep patterns and their relationship with economic preferences, using wrist-measured sleep data from 268 smallholder farmers near Bengaluru, India. We find that participants have relatively high sleep quality, with an average total sleep duration of 6.9 hours per day, including 6.4 hours of nighttime sleep, and 47% exhibiting daytime sleep habits. Sleep patterns vary by sociodemographic factors: older individuals sleep less, while females sleep longer and more closely align with the recommended seven hours of nighttime sleep than males. Higher socioeconomic status correlates with better sleep quality. Additionally, sleep behaviors are linked to individual risk and time preferences, though no clear statistically significant relationship is found with social preferences. Age and gender differences further shape these associations, highlighting important heterogeneity in the data. These findings contribute to a broader understanding of sleep and its correlations with economic preferences in rural contexts, with field sleep data providing a more accurate reflection of natural sleep patterns compared to laboratory or self-reported data alone.