When was the last time you had a good night’s sleep? Are you one of the million-plus Australians who spend their nights watching the minutes tick by, dreading the morning, knowing you’ll be exhausted? Some say it feels like dragging a piano around, an awful deadening weight.
So why are so many of us unable to sleep? For one in 20 Australians, sleep is no longer a given, it’s a luxury. Life is about being accessible and contactable 24 hours a day in a world that never slows down. From shift workers to new parents to those just stressed, sleep deprivation becomes a way of life.
Bizarrely for some it’s a badge of honour to see who can stay awake the longest. In Britain the makers of Big Brother have invented a ‘reality’ show, "Shattered". Contestants compete for more than $200,000 to see who can survive the longest on two hours sleep a night.
But sleep deprivation is no trivial matter with economists estimating insomnia and other sleep disorders are costing the community over $10 billion a year.
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