失眠困擾過半英國人 或導致戀情不順

More than half of us are unable to get a good night’s rest, say researchers following a major study.

They warn that the lack of sleep is having a serious knock-on effect on our health.

Sleep expert Professor Colin Espie, of the University of Glasgow and co-founder of the organisation Sleepio, has collated interviews with 12,000 adults in Britain’s largest study of sleep patterns.

‘Insomnia affects people’s quality of life during the day, not just their sleep at night,’ he said.

‘Living with poor sleep and its consequences is not only very common, but it is in all likelihood degrading Britain’s health.’

In total, 51 percent of adults struggle to nod off or remain asleep. Women suffer far more than men, with 75 percent reporting problems compared with 25 percent of men.

The survey found that 55 percent of adults reported relationship difficulties as a result, it affected the concentration of 77 percent, 64 percent said they were less productive at work, 83 percent had mood problems and 93 percent lacked energy.

Professor Espie, who believes better treatment for sleep deprivation should be available on the NHS, added: ‘This is not a trivial matter. Persistent poor sleep elevates the risk of developing new illnesses.

‘This has been shown in disorders such as diabetes, but also very convincingly in depression.’

He added that a quarter of those with insomnia had suffered for more than 11 years.

Another survey of 3,000 adults found that 70 percent of people believe they don’t get enough sleep and 57 percent lie awake at night worried about work or money.

The result is that one in ten check work emails, 6 percent wake up their partner if they can't sleep, 26 percent listen to soothing music and 18 percent believe having sex helps.

The study, commissioned by the retailer IKEA, found that half of people blamed a poor mattress for a bad night’s sleep.

But more women seemed to avoid any problems, with 21 percent regularly getting more than eight hours' sleep compared to just 14 percent of men.

It also discovered that one in ten adults go to bed with a teddy bear.研究人員在一項大型研究中發現，超過半數的英國人晚上睡不好覺。

他們警告說，睡眠不足會給我們的健康帶來嚴重的連鎖反應。

在這項英國規模最大的睡眠模式研究中，格拉斯哥大學的睡眠專家、Sleepio機構的共同創始人科林•艾斯皮教授覈對了和1.2萬名成人的訪談記錄。

他說：“失眠不光會影響晚上的睡眠，還會影響人們白天的生活質量。”

“英國人普遍睡不好覺，並遭受睡眠不佳的後果，英國民衆的健康水平也很可能因此而下降。”

總體來看，英國有51%的成人入睡困難或睡不安穩。女性的睡眠問題比男性嚴重得多，75%的女性報告說自己有睡眠問題，而這樣的男性爲25%。

調查發現，55%的成人報告說睡眠問題導致自己的戀情不順，77%的人說睡眠不佳讓自己無法集中注意力，64%的人說自己的工作效率下降了，83%的人因此情緒不佳，93%的人缺乏幹勁。

艾斯皮教授認爲，國家醫療服務體系應該爲睡眠不足提供更好的治療。他補充說：“這可不是小事。持續的睡眠不佳會增加患新疾病的風險。”

“睡眠不足會導致身體失調，患上糖尿病等疾病，而且也會引發抑鬱症，這些證據都很有說服力。”

他還說，四分之一的失眠症患者已經受其困擾長達11年以上。

另一項涵蓋了3000名成人的調查發現，70%的人認爲自己睡眠不足，57%的人晚上爲工作或錢的事煩惱得睡不着覺。

睡不着覺的結果是：10%的人查看工作郵件，6%的人叫醒自己的伴侶，26%的人聽舒緩的音樂，18%的人認爲性生活有助於睡眠。

調查發現，半數英國人將睡眠不佳歸咎於牀墊不舒服。該調查是宜家零售企業委託開展的。

不過，完全沒有睡眠問題的女性似乎比男性多，21%的女性每天睡眠時間通常在8小時以上，而這樣的男性只有14%。

調查還發現，十分之一的英國成人抱着泰迪熊睡覺。