Are you a secret napper?

We all need more sleep! It’s official, we Britons work and play too hard and burn the candle at both ends of the day to the detriment of getting enough sleep.

An International study for Aviva has revealed that Britons are the most ‘under-slept’ country. According to the research, more than a third of adults in Britain (37%) said that they are not getting enough sleep. Experts believe that modern British culture undervalues the importance of sleep. Early nights, lie-ins and afternoon naps are too often seen as a weakness or a sign of old age rather than as an important part of a healthy lifestyle.

Doug Wright, Medical Director for Aviva UK Health blames our working culture that encourages long hours both in the office and at home. He also points out that we don’t help ourselves, and that we are famously bad at relaxing during our downtime. “If we are not checking work emails we’re trying to whittle down our personal to-do lists”. Not being able to switch off properly means that the quantity and quality of our sleep is being damaged.

And yet most of us know that sleep plays an important role for good mental and physical health. Did you know that when you sleep, your brain removes toxic proteins, which are by-products of neural activity when you're awake, so when you don't get enough sleep, the toxic proteins remain in your brain cells, wreaking havoc by impairing our ability to think?

I’m a fine one to preach about the virtues of sleeping well – I’m a habitually bad sleeper and I relentlessly pursue the Holy Grail of a Good Night’s Sleep. You can read my top 20 tips to sleep well here. My recent enlightenment is the approach of Dr Guy Meadows, author of The Sleep Book, who essentially says, “stop trying”. He looked at what ‘normal’ sleepers do to sleep well and realised that they do nothing special. No pills, potions or routines. Short of having a double espresso before they get into bed, normal sleepers just go to sleep and stay asleep. Most importantly they don’t let their thoughts get in the way of stopping them sleep. His book leads you through a process to control your mind to help you sleep.

I’m a great believer in the power of a cat-nap during the day. Not only does it recharge the brain for better afternoon thinking and productivity, it also helps you sleep better at night. In Italy, which emerged as the best-rested country in Europe in the Aviva study, they have a riposo, when businesses close, allowing for an afternoon siesta to let you re-energise yourself for the rest of the day.

But back to Britain, and the cultural shift that I would like to see is for offices to provide quiet rooms for people to slip away for a quick Power Snooze or mindful meditation during the day. The picture I took above is not the first person I’ve spotted sleeping in a café and a survey amongst my co-workers has revealed that they have been known to sneak off to nod off in a toilet cubicle. This literally ‘closet’ sleeping shouldn’t have to be this way! We need proper Rest Rooms with comfy chairs or recliners (and not the American sort of 'restroom'!)

Some companies are seeing the light (or rather the dark!), and introducing sleep pods or nap rooms. On a recent visit to Roche at their HQ in Burgess Hill, I felt their ‘our people matter’ culture as soon as I spotted their Quiet Room. As an extreme, I am amused, or is it more alarmed, to see desks are now being developed that convert into beds so tired office workers can sleep on the job. Is this really the answer? I hope not; all we need is somewhere quiet for a quick forty winks.

Let's #de-stigmatise napping!