Are you getting enough in bed?

Hands up everyone who thinks they do not get enough sleep? Well, well, well, that is a lot of you! Healthy adults should take eight hours every night to get their forty winks.

Healthy teenagers should take nine hours and healthy children, around 11.

Sleeping is an essential "shutting down" of your brain and body in order for you to grow and repair your body tissues, as well as carry out an extensive range of other processes that keep you healthy.

Did you know that a human adult can survive only a few minutes without oxygen, three or four days without water and only a few days without sleep? It's true - sleep deprivation can literally put you in a grave, not before sending you totally insane.

Sleep not only is your time to rest and repair and rebuild, it is the time when long-term memories are formed and stored. Sleep allows links in your brain to form that allow you to develop a skill, whether it is mental or physical.

Sleep is also good for your heart. Without adequate sleep, you risk high blood pressure by the chemical and hormonal changes in the body that increase stress.

This also impacts negatively on your immune system, which opens the pathway to numerous diseases. Research has shown that lack of sleep even increases gum disease and tooth cavities!

Sleep is when your muscles grow and your bones get stronger. Exercise is just the stimulus for the changes but the good stuff actually happens when we are off in dream land and the cells in our bodies change and adapt to what we have done during the day.

Sleep can keep you looking younger. It really is better than any cream on the market for cell regeneration and oxygen uptake and keeping eyes looking bright.

Ladies, we all have had tough nights when in the morning we resemble a blood-shot-eyed panda bear instead of a glowing goddess. And gentlemen, we have all seen bags under our eyes that could hold more than our briefcase. The term "beauty sleep" really comes with a load of reality.

However, some adults can get by on less than eight hours sleep per night. I had a boyfriend once who was happy with three to four hours sleep a night.

He lived a perfectly normal, happy and very active life. I actually became envious of him in a way - here I was, sleeping over one third of my life away while he was getting so much more out of his day and still feeling great by supper time!

Additionally, he felt frustrated that my sleeping more than twice the amount he did, really ate away at our quality time together.

He actually saw my sleeping eight to nine hours a night as a sleeping disorder and it eventually led to burning arguments between us!

I did see his point, but spare a thought to those who have legitimate sleeping disorders and how it may affect their lives.

Insomnia is one of the more common sleep disorders. Insomnia is the medical term given to someone who has trouble falling asleep or staying asleep and therefore does not get regular quality rest.

When you tell someone you have the flu, it is often met with much sympathy, accompanied by offers of tissues, hot tea and chicken soup. When you tell someone you have insomnia, it is often met with a feeble response of "...oh, it will go away", or often no response at all!

But having insomnia needs to be taken seriously and deserves more empathy because it can lead to a range of physical and mental ailments.

Insomnia is extremely uncomfortable and upsetting to the sufferer for two reasons. Firstly, not getting enough quality sleep will affect everything you do through your day and if it continues will wear down your energy, short-term memory and immune system. Secondly, an insomnia sufferer will naturally worry about the affliction and wonder when it will go away. This leads to more stress and, of course, even less sleep.

If you have insomnia and have tried all the usual remedies like warm milk, regular exercise, relaxation techniques and are generally happy and healthy, you need to see a doctor.

Chronic insomnia affects up to 15 per cent of the population, with short term insomnia affecting a whopping 50 per cent. About 20 per cent of children will suffer short term insomnia and this will affect their school performance and perhaps their relationships.

Snoring is a common sleeping disorder that unfortunately affects not just the snorer, but their partner too.

It is more common in men aged over 35, especially if the man is also overweight. Snoring is caused by the soft tissue at the back of the throat vibrating upon inhalation. It is not a disease and the good news is that it is easily treated, without medication. One way to treat snoring is to simply adjust your pillow (or buy a new contoured pillow) so that you are tilting your head back and opening the airway. Also, blow your nose before you go to bed and avoid putting the covers over your head. Research shows that alcohol before bedtime tends to make the snoring worse.

Sleep apnoea is a more serious disorder where the person asleep will actually stop breathing for around 10 seconds, from 5 to 50 times an hour.

It is more common in people who have had a stroke, a brain tumour, or enlarged tonsils.

It is more serious than insomnia and snoring because for the period of time that the person stops breathing, the brain is deprived of oxygen.

The sufferer might not know they have sleep apnoea, either. The sufferer will need to see a doctor as soon as possible, who will then refer the patient to a sleep lab for a treatment.

I have seen cases where people with sleep apnoea have to wear an oxygen mask when they fall asleep to avoid potential brain damage.

Snoring, however, does not necessarily lead to sleep apnoea.

Do not underestimate the power of sleep and do not let anyone tell you that you are getting too much - that is up to your body to decide. Alternatively, if you are not getting enough sleep and/or you are a chronic snorer, you should seek medical advice.

Sweet dreams everyone!