The Guardian view on sleep deprivation: who can afford forty winks? | Editorial
Obesity used to be regarded as a disease of affluent societies. In a sense, of course, this is true: you cannot be obese if you cannot afford enough calories. But we now understand that the story is more complex, and that children from low-income groups are more likely to be obese than those from the highest-income groups.
Our understanding of sleep deprivation has yet to see a similar evolution. Almost half the British population say they get six hours' sleep a night or less, compared with around a twelfth in 1942. Experts blame developments such as electrification and the proliferation of entertainment; one neuroscientist went so far as to warn of a "catastrophic sleep-loss epidemic" recently. We need sleep for mental and physical recovery; for cognitive control, memory and learning. Sleep loss is associated with everything from obesity and Alzheimer's disease to diabetes and poor mental health.
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