If you read my All work and not enough play post you will know that I have been working all hours recently and its slowly taking its toll. Listening to the radio the other day whilst preparing dinner they were talking about sleep deprivation. Apparently a high percentage of people in the UK are not getting enough sleep and the average we should be having is between 7-9 hours sleep a night. They mentioned that if you fall asleep within five minutes of your head hitting the pillow that it is a sign of sleep deprivation and you are overtired. It should take you between 10-15 minutes of going to bed to drift to sleep.

I having been going to bed around midnight and then have to wake up at 6.30am so I guess I am not really getting enough “good quality” sleep lately. Add children into the mix and having a good nights sleep can seem like a miracle right?

Luckily, generally both my boys are good sleepers and rarely wake and disturb us in the middle of the night but recently E has gotten into the habit of waking up, coming into our room asking to be tucked in. He seems to go through phases of doing this which is really frustrating!

I have always related sleep deprivation to the time I brought both boys home from hospital as newborns – you know you are in for a tough ride because they wake every few hours for a feed and you literally grab sections of sleep as and when you can. Recently though – I have been feeling that same tiredness and lack of energy and I am even snapping at the boys for small things – which isn’t fair.

I usually read a few pages of my book on my phone before I go to bed but I found out that the light emitting from your phone disrupts your melatonin levels (a chemical that helps sleep). I make a point of not looking at my phone to check the time if I have been woken up in the middle of the night (usually it’s better not to know!)  but I didn’t realise that it also effects you winding down in preparation for bed.

I am desperate for this project I have been working on to go live so that I can regain some normality back into my life! Being a working mum isn’t easy but being a working mum who is currently working all hours is even harder!

How many hours sleep do you generally get? Do you think you are getting enough or are you sleep deprived?