There's plenty to keep us awake at night these days, and it looks like sleep issues are on the rise. March is National Bed Month in the UK, and to mark the occasion OTTY – the brand behind some of today's best mattresses – has conducted some research into the specific sleep issues plaguing different parts of the country. Cheerful.
The research, from hybrid mattress brand OTTY (opens in new tab), has looked into the sleep terms that increased in search in 2020 the most compared to 2019. Brummies are experiencing sleep anxiety, Londoners are focused on amount of sleep and Scousers just can't sleep, this research suggests.
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There are also some scarier soundingc issues on the list. Search for parasomias – an umbrella term covering a wide range of unwanted or unexpected sleep experiences – is up in London, and night terrors are on the rise in Brighton.
We should pause at this point and make it clear that these are percentage increases, and the actual numbers involved are very small. So it's not quite as dramatic as the stats would imply. But it's still interesting / mildly concerning to see these issues rising, and muse on whether it's to do with the stresses of the pandemic or just that we're all becoming more neurotic.
If you're struggling, check out our guide to how to sleep better at night and our tips on how to fall asleep quickly. And don't beat yourself up unnecessarily if you're not hitting the number of hours you want, either. “Seven to eight hours of sleep is ideal for most people," says Alex Dimitriu, MD, a double board-certified physician in psychiatry and sleep medicine. "We should aim to be realistic, and ideally create a 'window' of time for sleep of eight or nine hours – with the realisation that despite our efforts, we all end up sleeping a little less than we planned."
Check out the full data here (opens in new tab).
