Kuala Lampur, July 22 -- JULY 22 - For 39 days, Malaysia ran on borrowed sleep. The World Cup final between Argentina and Spain kicked off at 3am, the last of a tournament in which well over half of our most-watched group matches landed between midnight and 5am. Mamak stalls up and down the country were packed by kickoff. Whoever ended up lifting the trophy, most of us were awake to see it. That is what makes a World Cup special. It is also, quietly, a problem.

The morning after, one-day emergency leave requests tend to spike and offices run a little slower. Malaysia already carries one of the highest obesity rates in South-East Asia: 54.4% of adults overweight or obese, 21.8% clinically obese, per the 2023 National Health and Morbidity ...