We’re living in more enlightened times when it comes to the relationship between our sleep and our health. Ask them, and fewer people these days would say there’s much to gain in terms of their health and performance by depriving themselves of sleep.
But unfortunately, as a nation, we are still counting losses when it comes to sleep.
According to the nation’s authority on sleep – The Sleep Council – tragically as many as 20% of road deaths are caused by fatigue and they also cite the economic cost of sleep deprivation in the U.K. to be £40.2billion*. Read more research and sleep advice at sleepcouncil.org.uk.
Maybe it’s time we flip the ‘you snooze, you lose’ idiom on its head to find ourselves the losers if wedon’t snooze and, in recognising this, take positive steps to safeguard our sleep in the same way as we do other areas of our health and wellbeing.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, but a great place to begin thinking about improving your sleep is by giving yourself a comfortable bed. Once again our friends at The Sleep Council have the research to prove this with the data that people sleep on average 42 minutes extra when they swap an old bed for a new one*.
Now, in our minds, that’s a ‘you snooze, you win’ situation.
* Source: The Sleep Council sleepcouncil.org.uk.