Hi Cairns, You’re the Worst Morning People in Australia

Cairns. That semi-rural Queensland city with lots of sugar cane and some reef. You'd think it'd be a nice place to wake up, but apparently not. Because according to a report published Wednesday morning by Fairfax, it's actually the city where people score their morning mood the lowest in the country. On average, residents rate their mood 53.12 out of 100 when they wake up. That's across all genders, and with a sample size larger than 250 people. Reasons for this aren't clear, but interestingly Townsville—just four hours south—scores the best waking mood nationally with an average of 68.29.

In total, data was provided in five categories to measure sleep quality. They were bedtime, waking time, total time in bed, waking mood, and movements per hour. This last one refers to the number of time respondents moved around in bed, with more movements indicating a lower quality of sleep.

Interestingly, residents of Western Australia's Rockingham are experiencing the worst sleep in Australia. There, people wriggle around in bed 63.66 times per hour. But on the other end of the scale is Launceston, where residents move a comparatively calm 51.91 times per hour.

The times people go to bed are another interesting area covered in the data. Brisbane, the Gold Coast, and Perth are all in the country's top 10 cities for getting up early, all waking at around 6:45 AM. On the other end is Melbourne, where people get out of bed at 7:19 AM. To be fair though, they're also the last to go to bed at 11:35 PM.

In total sleep time, residents in Darwin get the least with 7.23 hours. Sydney came in with the third least at 7.32.

All of this data comes courtesy of a sleep app that uses phone microphones to measure sleep sounds. By analysing breathing rhythms and movement throughout the night, the app knows when users fall asleep and can detect which sleep cycle they're in. Users then report their mood when they wake up.

By collating this data the app's designers have found that internationally, Australians sit in the top five for total hours spent in bed with 7.35 per person. New Zealanders spend more time in bed than any other country on earth with a grand total 7.43 hours.

So in summary, move to NZ, but keep away from Cairns.