Sleep, or lack of it, affects everything we do. Whether it's our mood, appetite or even reaction times, getting the requisite amount of shut-eye is the most important thing we can do for our bodies.
But even though we spend a third of our lives sleeping, many of us are pretty terrible at it. Nightly issues include not dropping off, dropping off and then waking up, or even dropping off too fast, which can also signify exhaustion which is not healthy.
Dr Michael Mosley has struggled with his sleep for most of his adult life, and at the age of 64, he decided to investigate. Teaming up with the Sleep & Circadian Neuroscience Institute at the University of Oxford, he posed the UK Sleep Census for the documentary How To Sleep Well with Dr Michael Mosley (BBC Two, Thursday, 9pm).
With responses from 300,000 people across the UK, there are trends that Dr Mosley said show up. The average sleep for someone in the UK is 6 hours 48 minutes.
In the UK, over five million adults are believed to suffer from insomnia. And one of the most surprising might be that there is a North-South divide when it comes to dozing.
Dr Mosley said: "In general, people in the North were sleeping less than those in the South and they also reported worse sleep quality.
"Women reported lower sleep satisfaction than men. The shortest sleepers were in Kilmarnock in Scotland, but participants in Guernsey had the best quality of sleep.
Also surprising in Dr Mosley's report was "20% of participants admitted to turning to alcohol if they had trouble dropping off," as drinking can actually disturb sleep more."
How to Sleep Well with Dr Michael Mosley is on BBC iPlayer
