Deepak Banerjee is a senior sales manager with an FMCG company. He slogs it out for 15 hours a day in office. But when he returns home dead tired, sleep remains elusive.

Soumen Roy is a software professional. He has just broken off with his girlfriend and doesn’t share a good relationship with his parents either. He has been suffering from sleeplessness.

Having hit the fast lane of life, the city is fast losing sleep. And it’s taking a toll on one’s life.

“Insomnia is on the rise among young professionals in the high-income group, especially those in professions like insurance, IT and sales, where competition is cut-throat and you need to deliver work within a deadline,” says physician and intensivist Arpan Chaudhuri. “The patients are mostly between early-20s and late-40s.”

Consultant neuro-psychiatrist Sabyasachi Mitra says: “If somebody is not getting six to seven hours of sleep a day, he is suffering from sleeplessness. More than 30 per cent of young professionals in Calcutta, of age 20 to 40, fall in this category. The most common cause is tension brought about by anxiety, worries, overwork and strained relationships.”

Not just sleeplessness, insomnia has other fallouts, too — fatigue and grogginess, irritability, depression and sexual inadequacy.

Insomniacs are often prescribed sleeping pills like alpazolam, diazepam, nitrazepam and zolpidem, but doctors warn against using them for a long period.

A permanent solution lies in tackling the root cause of the problem. “Just as a computer needs formatting from time to time, human beings, too, need to format their thoughts and feelings. Remain stress-free and do not carry your work home. Try taking a weekend off every month,” says Chaudhuri.