SCOTS are to get a new hotline to help us sleep as latest research shows that, typically, we are losing 12 full nights of shut-eye each year worrying over health and family troubles.

While the NHS advises getting eight hours per night, one in 20 Scots said they lost sleep every night due to worrying.

Some experts say there is increasing evidence suggesting a link between lack of sleep and obesity, lower academic achievement and depression.
Support group Sleep Scotland recently launched a Sleep Support Line for Edinburgh and the Lothians to provide advice for parents and guardians of children and young people with sleep problems.

And it has emerged that the service will be rolled out across Scotland later in the year.

The new analysis showed the average Scot lost 95 hours of sleep per year and over half  say it had a negative impact on their day-to-day wellbeing.

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The family’s health (44 per cent), personal health (43 per cent), the children (33 per cent), personal finances (31 per cent) and being lonely (23 per cent) were the biggest concerns that led to lack of sleep.

Each year, Scots were losing a combined total of 367 million hours of sleep, according to the YouGov research for insurance firm Swinton Group.

Dr Guy Meadows, founder of the Sleep School, an organisation that helps insomniacs, stressed workers and new parents, said the problem was affecting our performance at work and at home.

“Sleep is the most powerful performance enhancer known to human kind, essential for strengthening our daytime mental, emotional and physical health and well-being,” he said.

“We know that the nation is currently not getting the recommended amount of sleep per night, and this latest research confirms that worry and nagging doubts play a significant role, with Scots being kept awake worrying.”

He said the road to improving sleep begins with recognising its fundamental importance in determining our short and long-term mental, emotional and physical health and wellbeing.

“A lack of emotional regulation can therefore affect our ability to form and maintain relationships, effecting both our work and home lives,” he added.

“Perhaps more concerning is that poor sleep also affects our brain’s ability to assess risk, increasing the likelihood of us making riskier decisions, than when well rested.”

Sleep Scotland said the new hotline, which is open from Monday to Thursday, was set up “to meet the increasing demand of families from across the country for whom their child’s poor sleep is disrupting their day-to-day lives”.

Dr Meadows added: “Over the years, sleep has often be labelled as ‘the most powerful performance enhancer known to humankind’. However, it is only now, after decades of scientific research, that such claims can be supported and that we know that, without night-time sleep, our ability to reach our full daytime potential is significantly impaired.

“One such discovery is the fact that our modern pre-frontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for managing our cognitive and emotional performance, also happens to be the most vulnerable to sleep deprivation.”