Sleep Debt Culture

Recent research, revealed by Future Laboratory’s Sleep Debt Culture report for Nytol into sleep patterns in the UK, revealed that there are a number of sleep-related lifestyle shifts occuring - and many of them affect parents the most.

8.5m Britons now sleep for as little as 4 hours a night and a staggering 1.5m exist on as little as three and half hours of sleep a night. The report in particular looked at Sleep Inequality and revealed that women get less sleep than men in general and are twice as likely to suffer from sleepless or sleep-disturbed nights compared to their partners!! 

Motherhood and Sleep Misery

For the majority of women aged 25-45 the experience of motherhood is a time-pressured juggling act between work and home. There is a growing realisation that 'having it all' can be impractical, undesirable or impossible. Many things contribute to this but the pressures and anxiety of work for most women added to the relative lack of support from their partners means that in every single age group, women are twice as likely to have insomnia than their menfolk. domestic duties, bedtime routine, night feeds etc. plus making time for themselves all adds up to modern mothers getting less than 3 and half hours sleep a night!!

Women will continue to experience more sleep problems than their partners throughout their lives - whether it's the sleepiness of pregnancy, waking up for breast-feeding or hot flushes/night sweats in later life. Sleep Inequality for women will continue for some years to come.

South East and London

Full time workers are significantly more likely to feel sleep-deprived than the rest of the population and those living in London and the south-east of England feel the sleep squeeze most. 19.5% (2 million) of people living in the South East say they get less than 5 hours a night. Most indulge in the following activities at night instead of sleeping:

• 30.6% play computer games
• 80.6% watch television
• 25% do their shopping online
• 20.8% are looking after the children
• 25% bank online

Fully-booked Youth

Similarly children and young people are also feeling the sleep squeeze. Children these days are frequently over-scheduled, over-committed, over-extended and as a result over-tired. Parents tend to consider this a given, a sad but unavoidable result of raising children in our competitive modern society. Mobiles, computer games and even televisions are a common feature of children's rooms. Studies have proved that children with a TV in their room are likely to spend an additional 5 and half hours watching it. That's about 45 minutes a day that could be spent sleeping. Sleep clinics are already inundated with children who watch television all hours of the night completely unbeknownst to their unsuspecting parents!!

The report went on to say that:

• The latest trend is 'anxious sleep' with 24 million people in the UK who suffer from this - 71% of these are women!
• 2.2 million women who experience "anxious sleep" contribute it to anxiety about family needs and family related matters
• Modern mothers have to make do with just 3 and half hours sleep - that's 90 minutes less than their own parents. A greater level of commitment to both domestic and work responsibilities means that many women feel worn out.
• Mothers who work stay up later than their partners because this is the only quiet time they have for themselves when the family is asleep and their domestic chores have been completed they can spend time on themselves - which explains the increase in late night internet activity - many use the hours between 9pm and 6am to do their shopping, online banking, emailing, booking tickets etc.
• By 2020 13m Britons will be economically active during the hours of 6pm and 9am compared to 7m today.

Nytol have also worked together with UK experts in personal wellbeing, and Mind Gym contributors, ‘Behave Yourself’ to develop simple steps and techniques to get people on their way to normal sleep patterns and 8 hours of pure sleep. 8 Steps to Relaxing your Body and Mind

Nytol Herbal is a sleep aid designed to gently restore natural sleep patterns and encourage a good night's sleep. Each tablet contains natural active ingredients including; Hops, Dogwood Jamaica, Dry Extract of Wild Lettuce, Dry Extract of Passiflora and Dry Extract of Pulsatilla. It is available from Boots, Superdrug, major supermarkets and chemist's stores nationwide.

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