The importance of sleep

A new report says that adults get an average of 90 minutes less sleep than they used to, and that lack of sleep is causing problems ranging from inefficiency at work to ill health and road accidents.

A century ago, Britons slept for an average of nine hours a night, but the figure is now seven-and-a-half hours. Adults aged 25-55, particularly those with children, sleep even less.

The report, Dream On, is published this month by the think tank Demos (www.demos.co.uk).