New research has found that women are missing out on three hours of kip a night on average – which, btw, adds up to a whopping 45 days a year – and its wreaking havoc with our psychical and mental health.
The survey, conducted by Benson For Beds, puts this down to a combo of factors, including period pain, childcare duties and having to put up with our SO’s nocturnal mouth music.
As a result of poor Z’S, 21 per cent of us have adopted unhealthy eating habits, another 21 per cent reckon it’s ruining our self-esteem and one in three feel depressed. But the worst part? The blokes aren’t the ones bothered by it: one in three women say they wake up every night, compared to just two in ten men.
"In the short term, sleep deprivation can lead to poor concentration, irritability and low mood," Dr Sarah Jarvis, clinical director for Patient.info told The Sun.
"It can also have an effect on your judgement, leading you to make bad decisions.”
"In the longer term, chronic lack of sleep has been linked to a host of health problems including type 2 diabetes and heart disease."
So, what’s a girl gotta do to stop the freight train in its tracks?
Speaking with The Telegraph, ear, nose and throat surgeon Mike Dilkes shared three tongue and throat exercises that may help:
- Curl your tongue back towards the roof of your mouth, before bringing it back to touch the back of your top set of teeth
- Open your mouth wide and say "ahhh" for 20 seconds
- Poke your tongue out as far as it goes before taking a deep breath and making a high-pitched noise like you're gargling air for 30 seconds
This article first appeared on Women's Health
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