How we go to sleep

More Britons say they have a good night's sleep

The British are less likely to use sleeping pills to get a good night's sleep than their foreign counterparts.

A survey published on Friday found that only 7% of British people who were quizzed said they used sleeping pills compared to 18% of people from other countries.

Sleep facts

In Northern Kenya, husbands and wives of the Gabra tribe sleep in different beds. Sons sleep with the husband, daughters with the wife.

The Zairean Efe sleep naked during the night so that the camp fire does not cause their clothes to ignite.

In Pakistan, the Swat Pathan have separate sleeping areas for men and women.

The research, commissioned by the Sleep Council, compared British sleeping habits with the rest of the world. In total 700 people were surveyed.

It found that the British were also more likely to go to bed with nothing on.

More than half (51%) of Brits go to sleep in the nude during the summer compared with just 30% of their counterparts across the globe.

Sex and chocolate

Sex was mentioned as a sleeping aid by 37% of all those surveyed, but in Britain the figure rose to 39%.

UK residents are also especially keen on eating chocolate before going to bed with almost three times as many (9.4%) indulging in this treat as the rest of the world (3.4%).

Some 74% of British people enjoy a lie-in on days off, compared with just 56% of others.

And 36% of the UK sample thought they slept well compared to just 22% of the rest of the world.

Cold feet seem to have a reputation they do not fully deserve with only 1.4% of all those questioned saying they were woken by this compared with their partner's sweatiness (6.3%).

Nine-to-five

What people do before sleep

Read - 63%

Watch television - 57%

Have a bath - 32%

Listen to the radio - 26%

The survey also found that the way people sleep does not prepare them properly for the demands of the traditional nine-to-five working day.

The majority of people either regard themselves as working best in the evening (38%) or in the morning (41%).

Sleep expert Dr Chris Idzikowski, who conducted the research, said: "By showing a preference for morning or evening work, the implication is that the majority are not fully alert in the middle of the day - the traditional time for a siesta in hot countries.

"We must conclude from this survey, that the traditional nine-to-five working day does not suit the majority."

Dr Idzikowski said his research suggested that there were at least four types of worker:

• those best in the morning
• those best in the afternoon
• people who needed a midday siesta to be at their best
• the orthodox nine-to-five

"The demands of commerce and industry, the sheer speed of international communications and the globalisation of the market place have all contributed to an increased uniformity of sleep patterns and behaviour.

"But if you allow peoples' natural sleep preferences to prevail, you could actually extend office hours beyond the traditional nine-to-five. Shops and offices could open at 5am and close at 9pm without any difficulties."

And that fact that 73% of the world uses alarm clocks, says Dr Idzikowski, confirms the need for more sleep.

"Otherwise they would wake up naturally," he said.

Professor Jim Horne, of the Loughborough University Sleep Research Centre, said the tendancy to feel sleepy in mid-afternoon was probably a legacy of our distant past.

"Humans originally evolved in hot climates. When it was very, very hot in the middle of the day there was not point in being out, and you could actually use that period to get some sleep so you needed less sleep at night."