insomnia

Lots of people suffer with insomnia.... there is a theory that blames the invention of electric lighting. In the old days people tended to wake at sunrise and start feeling sleepy when it got dark. Nowadays we can, and do, stay up until all hours before going to bed. The TV and computers have added to our brains being to active before we retire to the bedroom.

The BBC has an interesting article about resetting the natural body clock - go camping for a week :~))

I can vouch for this from personal experience :~))

BUT it could be that I'm just unlucky, but often when I've been camping I'd go to bed early to get out of the rain, and wake up early because my airbed had gone down.

So how much sleep do mammals need ?

• People - between 5 and 11 hours
• Python - 18 hours
• Cat - 12.1 hours
• Sheep - 3.8 hours
• Giraffe - 1.9 hours

There is a very small group of people who only need a minimal amount of sleep to function. These so called 'short sleepers'  go to bed late and get up a few hours later totally refreshed.