Recently we reported on a study which indicated that us women need more sleep than men based on both our ability and tendency to multi-task throughout the day, but if you still find you're in dire need of more sleep even AFTER wracking up more zzz's than your partner, you're not alone.
According to sleep experts, the standard 9 to 5 day is leaving most of us absolutely shattered, so it's no surprise us mums are rarely bright-eyed and bushy-tailed throughout a day which invariably start with early-morning feeds or nocturnal disturbances.
Commenting on a routine which the vast majority adhered to during our school days, Oxford University’s Dr Paul Kelley insists it's doing us no favours on the grounds that early morning starts wreak havoc with our attention levels and memory skills.
Speaking at the British Science Festival, Dr. Kelley explained: "This is a huge society issue. Staff should start at 10am. You don't get back to the 9am starting point until aged 55."
"Staff are usually sleep deprived," he continued. "We've got a sleep-deprived society. It is hugely damaging on the body's systems because you are affecting physical emotional and performance systems in the body."
Insistent that the working day should begin at least an hour later than the general public are used to, Dr. Kelley said :"This applies in the bigger picture to prisons and hospitals. They wake up people and give people food they don't want."
"You're more biddable because you're totally out of it. Sleep deprivation is a torture," he added.
Elaborating on this point, Dr. Kelley, who conducted a successful study into the theory with secondary school students in the north of England, continued: "Your liver and your heart have different patterns and you're asking them to shift two or three hours. This is an international issue. Everybody is suffering and they don't have to."
We're with him on this one.
