The Truth About Sleep

Britain is one of the most sleep-deprived countries in the world. In this film, medical journalist and chronic insomniac Michael Mosley Michael teams up with world-renowned experts, picks apart research and conducts pioneering tests on himself, to take us on a journey to find out just how much sleep we need, the consequences of not getting enough sleep, and investigates possible solutions to getting a better night’s kip. The amount of sleep we’ve been getting as a nation has fallen to around six and a half hours. It seems that us Brits just aren’t getting enough. So how do we know? Michael demonstrates a simple test you can try at home using just a spoon, a watch and a tray. You lie down holding a metal spoon over a tray, and when you fall asleep the spoon clatters onto the tray, waking you up. If you fall asleep after fifteen minutes you’re a normal sleeper. Less than that - around ten minutes - then you’re sleep deprived. Five minutes or less and you have severe sleep deprivation. Statistics show that about a third of Britain’s workforce are sleep deprived and it’s costing the UK up to £40bn a year in days off and lack of productivity.