Brits are collectively losing nearly 10 billion hours of sleep a year because they refuse to confront their worries during the day, a study claims. The poll of 2,000 adults found the average person struggles to sleep on three nights a week, typically losing 70 minutes of rest every time. Applied to the UK adult population of 55 million, that adds up to 9.8 billion hours a year.
Worries pushed aside during the day
One of the main possible reasons is that 74% push worries or difficult thoughts aside because they are too busy to deal with them. But for 81%, these thoughts tend to creep back in when they go to bed.
Research revealed that of the 48% who have had their day-to-day life affected by their mental wellbeing, 93% found it also impacts their nights. Despite these negative effects, 66% have accepted bad sleep as a fact of life.
Long-term sleep difficulties
The average person who experiences this disrupted sleep has been dealing with it for more than five years, while 19% have experienced difficulties with their sleep for more than a decade.
To help, Dreams has partnered with Mind and Scottish Action for Mental Health to create space for conversations about how people are really feeling and know where to turn for support.
Expert views and support
Resident sleep expert at Dreams Dr Zoe Williams said: “A bad night's sleep every now and then is something most of us experience. But this research shows how closely our nights and days can feed into one another.”
Rosie Weatherley, information content manager at Mind, said: “‘I’m just tired’ is such an everyday phrase that it can be easy to take at face value.”
The OnePoll.com data showed that more than half of those polled agreed that worries or difficult thoughts tend to feel worse when they come back at night than they did during the day. When lying awake at night, the top thoughts to pop up include the future (32%) and finances (29%), while 21% described a general sense of unease they can’t put their finger on.
Despite this, 65% have never sought support for sleep difficulties, with the main reason being they didn’t think it was a serious enough issue (33%).
Four expert tips for sleepless nights
Dr Zoe’s four top tips for sleepless nights: notice when sleeplessness becomes a pattern; ask what else has changed; pay attention to what comes up when everything goes quiet; and if someone says they’re ‘just tired’, ask one more question.
