The best way to get a good night’s sleep? Surveys might tell you one thing, we reckon just be dogged about it. Photo: Sally Hopman.
If one of your New Year’s resolutions was to get a better night’s sleep, dream on.
Remember what happened when John Lennon penned How Do You Sleep, reportedly about Paul McCartney, back in 1971. It didn’t end well, even though Lennon later said in an interview that the song was about him, not Paul. Yep, Imagine that.
These days we are way more scientific about it. We rely on Emma to tell us how we sleep, which makes sense considering she advertises herself as “a world leader in sleep products backed by science” – apparently it’s a company that makes mattresses.
In her latest research announced this week, based on a sample of 1000 adult Aussies who clearly stayed awake long enough to answer her questions, Emma lifted the doona on some fascinating sheets of information.
For example, did you know that while we might not be the wisest night owls in the world, we can claim to be the best at early rising, with the average Aussie surfacing at 6:45 am? It also found that getting up before 6 am was ideal if you wanted to be the most productive, with 23 per cent of respondents saying that’s exactly what they did.
But wait, there’s more. Around 75 per cent said they made their bed every morning and a whopping 91 per cent said they were the least likely to sleep past the alarm. Clearly impressive stats considering that no-one ever tells porkies in surveys.
But if you want to be the happiest, get up between 7:30 am and 8 am, the survey says.
Then we come to the crowd favourite in a survey – the bleeding obvious. Those who woke before 6 am reported that they had a better day after a good night’s sleep. No, really? That’s an eye-opener. Literally.
Still looking for that good night’s sleep regardless of time, you could always lie with a friend. Photo: Sally Hopman.
The survey also says that people who stay in bed longer in the morning are not the happiest of folk. Seriously? It says only 55 per cent of those who get up around 9 am say they have a happy day.
Did you know that we wild, partying, stay-up-all-night Aussies have the earliest bedtime of any other country in the world? Well, we do.
While we might get up the earliest, the survey reckons we’re in bed by 10:45 pm. It doesn’t elaborate what we might do in bed at 10:45 pm, but our money’s on reading a good book. Or sleeping with someone who has.
Ideally, says Emma, you need between seven and nine hours sleep a night. She even came up with this handy equation: Bedtime + 9 Hours = Wake Up Your Happiest. Nice.
And as for the don’ts when it comes to sleeping your best sleep, the advice is not to blame your partner for doing things that affect your sleep. We choose what we sleep on and with whom.
Cue advertisement for new mattress you didn’t know you needed. Sweet dreams.
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