news from our clients

Exhausted nation on the brink of a meltdown

16 November 2009

Brits are clocking up 80 million bad nights’ sleep every week

Britain has become a nation of insomniacs, according to new research out today from LightSleeper. A staggering 64% of us have a bad night’s sleep at least once a week, with nearly one in five of us having sleep problems every night of the week.

The research, carried out for the launch of LightSleeper, a new electronic sleep aid, has revealed a nation so exhausted that we’re on the point of meltdown, with a staggering 80 million bad nights’ sleep every week.

Dr Neil Stanley, sleep expert, says: “It is time to wake up to this problem. Regularly getting a bad night’s sleep can be dangerous to your health as well as your mental wellbeing. We must stop being complacent about sleep; we wouldn’t dream of turning up to work hungover on a regular basis but we seem to accept being exhausted three or four days a week.”

The research, carried out for LightSleeper by Opinion Matters, questioned more than 2,200 people about their sleep – or lack of it. Worryingly, one in three of us is getting a minimal three to six hours a night (37%) and more than two thirds of the UK regularly miss out on sleep due to anxiety and stress (67%).

And it seems we are failing when it comes to tactics for getting back to sleep. Most of us are falling into the classic pattern of just lying there hoping we’ll nod off eventually. A staggering 55% of us do this.

Dr Stanley says: “Watching TV, using the computer, playing computer games or checking emails are popular tactics. These are actually the worst things you can do because they stimulate the mind. Distracting the mind from intrusive thoughts but in a restful, soothing way is a much better solution.”

LightSleeper is tipped to be a ground-breaking solution. Designed by young designer, Kate Evans, it is a bedside electronic product, which works by simply projecting a light onto the ceiling. The light moves in a controlled, circular motion, and following it encourages the mind to relax into a good night’s sleep.

Kate came up with the idea as a design student, when she suffered from severe sleep problems. “I learned that the way the eyes track a book when reading can be soothing but reading itself stimulates the mind.  I looked for a solution that made use of the same relaxing eye movement.”

Other results from the survey:

• The lucky few – 5% - have sex as a remedy. 
• Our heroes fare better than this - more than 10% of firemen turn to sex to solve sleep problems. 
• 1% of us do the ironing when we can’t sleep
• The most unusual tactic was to sleep upside down in the bed, although no reason was given for thinking this worked. 
• We are not turning to religion in the night: fewer than 1% pray or read the bible to calm our minds
• Counting sheep has very definitely gone out of fashion: only two people from the entire sample use this technique.
• Four out five people in Sheffield blame sleep problems on anxiety, stress and worries (80%), the highest in the UK.
• Amazingly, only 9% of us are concerned about losing our jobs.

 Neil Stanley’s five ‘good sleep’ basics:

1. Establish a good bed-time routine; even if you can’t go to bed at the same time every night, make sure you have a wind down, switch off routine
2. Switch off the TV, computer, mobile phone and iPod at least 45 minutes before you want to go to sleep; over-stimulating the brain just before bedtime is bad news
3. Only use your bedroom for sleeping (and sex) – do all your reading, TV-watching and computer work in another room. 
4. If you’re not sleeping because you’re anxious or have too much to do, write your worries down; this can help you mentally put them to one side.
5. Make the bedroom a sanctuary of calm and comfort
   

« Back