Are you getting enough Zzzzz?

Ever find yourself staring hopelessly at the ceiling, waiting to drift off to sleep, but just as your head touches the pillow, your mind becomes a hub of activity of overthinking and stress…well if you have, you’re not alone.

Over half of us (55%) can relate to the experience of having a rush of thoughts come to their head, just as they are trying to sleep – and almost the same amount of people (48%) admit that they struggle to get a good night’s sleep, leading to over 8 million UK adults getting less than 5 hours sleep a night.

So why are we a nation of such poor sleepers? The top things that Brits signposted as damaging to them getting their recommended 8-hour sleep stint are being too stressed (38%), financial pressures (22%), family issues (23%) and temperature (21%).

Research by Headspace highlights how two-thirds of people (63%) wish they could get quality sleep consistently to improve their mental health, while 1 in 5 (20%) agree that if they could improve one aspect of their life to benefit their physical and mental health, they would improve their sleep.

Aston spoke to clinical psychologist and mental health expert at Headspace Dr Sophie Mort.

Photo by Greg Rivers on Unsplash