Quite simply, there is no part of our physical or mental health which is not affected by poor sleep. As the legendary sleep researcher Dr Allan Rechtschaffen once said, “If sleep does not serve an absolutely vital function, then it is the biggest mistake the evolutionary process ever made”.
We can all be guilty of cutting corners when it comes to sleep. In a busy lifestyle it is often the first thing we sacrifice and many of us have come to regard sleep as optional. On top of this, we live in a culture which associates sleep with laziness and a lack of drive. The expression “you can sleep when you’re dead” sums up this attitude. This has landed us in the middle of a sleep deprivation epidemic, scientists estimate that we are sleeping on average 25% less than we did just 60 years ago and 77% of people in the UK are not reaching their sleep needs.
Not sleeping can have serious consequences on our health, and with so many of us staying indoors at the moment, a little more beauty sleep is just what the doctor ordered… (am I right?!)