A survey is suggesting that only a tiny minority of us are getting eight hours' sleep a night. But do we really need that much?
But the good news, says Prof Jim Horne, director of Loughborough University's Sleep Research Centre, is that we don't need eight hours at all.
"It's nonsense. It's like saying everybody should have size eight shoes, or be five foot eight inches.
But Prof Horne says: "The test of insufficient sleep is whether you are sleepy in the day or if you remain alert through most of the day."
In a nutshell, if you sleep for eight hours a night go to work and find yourself lolling and drooling on the keyboard, you aren't getting enough. If you're sleeping five hours and running the country, you probably are getting enough.
Women may need more sleep than men, Prof Horne says, due to the structure of their brains. And he says there is evidence that young children are getting too little sleep, with a detrimental effect on their behaviour.
clipped from: news.bbc.co.uk