BAD IDEA OF THE WEEK: Poor sleeping habits

Society has become "supremely arrogant" in ignoring the importance of sleep, leading researchers have told the BBC's Day of the Body Clock. Scientists from Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Manchester, and Surrey universities warn cutting sleep is leading to "serious health problems". They say people and governments need to take the problem seriously. Cancer, heart disease, type-2 diabetes, infections, and obesity have all been linked to reduced sleep. The body clock drives huge changes in the human body. It alters alertness, mood, physical strength, and even the risk of a heart attack in a daily rhythm. It stems from our evolutionary past when we were active in the day and resting at night. But scientists have warned that modern life and 24-hour society mean many people are now "living against" their body clocks with damaging consequences for health and wellbeing. Professor Russell Foster, at the University of Oxford, said people were getting between one and two hours less sleep a night than 60 years ago. We can't just abandon four billion years of evolution and ignore the fact that we have evolved under a light-dark cycle. What we've done as a species, perhaps uniquely, is override the clock, and long-term acting against that clock can lead to serious health problems. This is an issue affecting the whole of society, not just shift workers. So get to bed at a more reasonable hour, wake up, and be ready to start the day at the top of your game.