A charity has called for the Government to implement a “national sleep strategy” after a survey it commissioned found that British people are on average getting only 6.8 hours a night – around an hour less than they feel they need. The Royal Society for Public Health wants people to be given “slumber numbers” (guidance on how much sleep different age groups need) and for cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to be made more available for sleep disorders. Lack of sleep is known to increase the risk not only of various medical conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes, but also of mental illness. “Insomnia, the most common expression of mental disease, is like a Cinderella disorder – seldom receiving proper attention, despite being the most treatable precursor to depression,” said Colin Espie, professor of sleep medicine at Oxford University.
6.8 hours! That’s a lot! I come from a long line of sleepless people. Not only am I affected (sometimes being awake all night for 4 or 5 days in a stretch, and I am not exaggerating), but my sister and her children are affected in a similar way. I joke that our ancestors were night sentries in prehistoric days, protecting our families in the dark hours from woolly mammoths, and thus our genes for sleep were altered. It is a terrible affliction, and yes, I attest that it is not treated very seriously – few believe you. On the other hand I hardly think it leads to mental disease. Yes, irritability, confusion and forgetfulness, but not “mental disease”, however you interpret that. As it happens, by coincidence, I offered my study services in a sleep study to Professor Espie’s clinic in Oxford some while ago, but never had the privilege of a reply. So maybe lack of sleep isn’t as urgent a problem as he makes out. One cannot have people with mental disease walking around unattended. It’s irresponsible.
I’m very glad you’ve raised this. I’m sure a lack of sleep is part of the excessive pressures of modern life. Working hours are too long, holidays are too short. Even when people are technically not at work, they are often expected to check their emails, which eats into their free time. Raising children also makes you sleep deprived; particularly in the major cities, where people don’t allow their children to roam around on their own because they believe its too dangerous. When people aren’t at work or looking after the kids, they want some leisure time to themselves. All of this contributes to a lack of sleep. There’s a comparable situation as university, where many people work for so long, they hardly get any sleep. A lot of my friends sleep almost perpetually tired.
I think the solution is more flexible working hours. I understand that isn’t possible with some jobs. But with others, employees should be allowed to work when they want, provided they work their contracted weekly hours overall. If want to come into work at midday, but not finish until 8 or 9pm, that should be my right. That way, people who struggle to get up in the morning, or those who like an early night, would have a work schedule that suits them.
Having said all that, I cannot empathise with the sleep deprived. I have the opposite problem: I sleep for too long. I can go to bed at midnight, and not even wake up until midday. This means I’m less stressed than my friends, but I can be in a very sour mood when I have to get up early in the morning. I have heard very little on how to survive on less sleep. Everyone says if I want to get up earlier, I should go to bed earlier. I do, and I still feel awful the following morning.