Half of people class themselves as sleep deprived

A new survey has found that half of the people in the UK believe that they are sleep deprived and do not get enough rest.

The research, conducted by QVC, revealed that the average British person sleeps for just six hours and seven minutes per night, which is well below the traditionally recommended eight hours.

It found that people get the least amount of sleep in Aberdeen, where the average resident sleeps for just five hours and 23 minutes per night.

According to almost two-thirds of people, irritability was the cause of sleep loss, while 56 per cent said it left them unable to concentrate and more than a third said it made them crave sugary, fatty foods.

However, Professor Jim Horne, director of Loughborough University Sleep Research Centre, said that previous surveys conducted at the facility have showed that people actually get more sleep than they imagine.

"We have done a lot of surveys bigger than this and as a nation the amount of sleep people take in this country has always been about the same. For a healthy adult that's mainly about seven hours twenty minutes on average. Most people do find their sleep is satisfactory and I don't believe [half] of the population suffer from insomnia or sleep deprivation," he said.

The expert argued that most people would probably like to have more sleep but only in the same way they would like to have a bigger house and longer vacations.

Professor Horne concluded: "I'm not dismissing insomnia - I'm merely dismissing these findings; I don't think the situation is as bad as they say it is."

Posted by Louise Jones

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