It’s one of things we need to do merely to survive, but getting decent sleep is something human beings are shockingly terrible at. For some, an inability to sleep well can be attributed to reasons beyond their control. What can you say to a new mother who is awoken three times a night by her infant’s cries? If she’s lucky, she’ll clock two uninterrupted hours of shut-eye at a time, averaging out to a total of six hours before the day starts all over again.
If you have a sleep disorder like insomnia, you know how painful it can be to lie awake, tossing and turning. Minutes crawl by and hours melt away, and before you know it—it’s bright outside and you haven’t slept a wink despite your best efforts.
Night shift or remote workers on a time difference, on the other hand, are up from dusk to dawn while the rest of the world sleeps. Yes, they can rest during the day, but how well does that really compare to a full night’s sleep?
These are conditions for poor sleep that may be easy to sympathise with, but there are other reasons that are harder to justify.
