A sleep competition called 'Matt Race' was held in Tokyo, the winner Suimii won a new prize of 2 million

Dozens of people competed to fall into the fastest and deepest sleep in the competition organized by the mattress manufacturer Koala Sleep Japan company in Japan's capital Tokyo.

According to the news of the AFP agency, the participants, who described themselves as master "sleep competitors", laid down on comfortable beds to win the grand prize of more than 2 million yen (about 14 thousand dollars) in the event called "Matt Race".

In the competition, which took place yesterday in a dimly lit room, participants with sleep tracking devices attached to their heads were given up to 90 minutes of sleep.

Some contestants were seen sleeping in their beds, hugging plush toys. The winner was determined by measuring how fast and how well he slept.

Only one woman who gave the nickname Suimii won the competition.

Explaining her plans for the award, Suimii said, "I want to live alone, I will probably use the money for moving expenses. I also want a bed like a princess bed, I think I will buy that bed."

One of the contestants, 32-year-old Chisato Honda, told AFP, "It was over in the blink of an eye. I wish I could sleep a little more. It was a very happy competition."

Riichiro Nakama, creative director of the organizer company, reminded that Japan is known as a country suffering from insomnia and that its people are very hardworking, and said, "I thought that by turning this into such an event, we could make people sleep together and increase interest in sleep."

According to 2021 data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Japanese people sleep an average of 7 hours and 24 minutes a day.

This period indicates the lowest average among the member countries of the organization.

Experts point to long working and commuting hours and a lively nightlife as the reasons for the situation.