Can you guess the most sleepless city in the UK?

They say New York is the city that never sleeps, but it turns out London is giving the Big Apple a run for its money. Unfortunately, it’s not in a good way: the UK capital has been revealed as the city with the most people suffering from insomnia in the country. Maybe that’s why we keep hitting snooze in the mornings. 

Research carried out using NHS data has revealed the number of people being diagnosed with sleep disorders and being referred to sleep studies and ‘Sleep Medicine’ appointments across the country. According to the study, Londoners were tossing and turning the most, as the city came out on top for sleepless nights with a whopping 286,182 referrals for sleep studies between 2012 and 2023.

Using NHS England data. Click Pharmacy found that London has seen the highest number of sleep studies out of any region in England over the past ten years. Plus, between January and April 2023 London recorded 12,982 sleep studies, which was more than any other region.

Following London for sleep deprivation was the east of England, which recorded 192,289 sleep referrals since 2012, with 5,891 between January and April this year. In the north-west, sleep problems were also on the up. There have been 170,990 sleep studies since 2012, with 5,656 between January and April.

People are getting the best sleep in the east Midlands. Since 2012, they have only had 56,727 sleep study referrals. The region also recorded 2,832 sleep studies in the four months between January and April 2023.

Jana Abelovska, superintendent pharmacist at Click Pharmacy, said: ‘Ideally, your average adult should be getting around eight hours of sleep each night. This is crucial for ensuring that our bodies are able to recover from the events of the day and have the strength and energy required to put our best foot forward in the morning.

‘However, for many, this is simply not possible, largely due to sleep disorders that make it extremely difficult to sleep through the night.’

She added: ‘What we found indicates that sleep disorders have actually become far more common as time has gone on, which shows an even greater need for awareness and understanding around these conditions.’

Alexa, play ‘Insomnia’ by Faithless. 

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