Insomnia is estimated to affect a quarter of the Western world.
Our 'open all hours' culture, increasing stress noise and lights and mobile devices are just a few of the modern lifestyle factors that are blamed.
But increasingly, research suggests that our 21st century 'sleep deprivation epidemic' is not linked to urbanisation as previously thought.
A new study has now found that living in a built-up area and the electrification of homes does not decrease the amount of sleep that people get.
Scientists have previously proposed that those who have electricity stay up later, but do not necessarily get up later to compensate. But this was not found to be the case.
Researchers found that people living in a town retired on average one hour later, but did not sleep less compared to people in a village without electricity, because they also rose an hour later in the morning.
Insomnia – classed as difficulty in getting to sleep or staying asleep for long enough to feel refreshed the next morning – may be related to the brain's sleep and wake cycle's going haywire.
And the cost of insomnia nights is more than just fatigue. Lack of regular sleep is linked to raised risk of depression, obesity, heart attack, stroke and diabetes – and it shortens your life expectancy.
