BY CHARLOTTE WEBSTER
British people are missing out on up to a day’s sleep every week, according to the Royal Society for Public Health. The society laments the fact that the average adult sleeps for 6.8 hours a night, below the 7.7 hours people feel they need, the RSPH states.
This amounts to losing an entire night’s sleep over the course of a week, according to the finding revealing a lifestyle detrimental to our collective well being.
The RSPH is made up of around 6,000 public health specialists, and have linked inadequate sleep to a range of conditions and is calling on the Government to introduce national sleep guidance. In an official statement to the eye of media.com, Shirley Cramer, chief executive of the RSPH said:
“We do need to wake up to the benefits of sleep – there is a wealth of evidence that lack of sleep is damaging the public’s health.
“Poor sleep and sleep disorders impact on our ability to lead a healthy lifestyle and are associated with a range of diseases such as cancer, diabetes, heart attack and depression.
“Our research shows there is a gap in how much sleep the public are getting compared to how much they need.
“Efforts to combat this shortfall could be as critical to optimizing our health and wellbeing as maintaining an active lifestyle or having a healthy diet.
“A good starting point would be to ensure sleep has parity alongside other areas of health and develop a national sleep strategy which sets out guidance for the public and highlights what more schools, employers, and health care professionals can do to ensure the nation sleeps better at night.”
Many of us in the UK get so preoccupied with our jobs and careers that we do not give sleep the respect it deserves. Adults are scientifically required to have at least 8hours rest every night, to maintain sound health of body and mind. Every time we sleep below 8 hours, we compromise our health, and never make up for that lost sleep even if we subsequently begin to sleep for 8 hours.
It is inevitable that the optimum standard of good health and quality skin is irreparably lost when we sleep below the ideal number of hours. The reality is far worse for those of us who make a habit of sleeping far below 8 hours. You will often find people who tell you they only need 6 hours sleep, but such people are not in the professional field that enables them to even evaluate the harm they regularly do to their mind and body.
Good sleep is therapeutic and also provides crucial energy and health to the brains which can be very useful in decision making and daily analysis of various situation. Compromising good sleep comes at a high cost, irrespective of our ignorance to this fact
rsph: https://www.rsph.org.uk