insideKENT Magazine Issue 96 - March 2020 | Page 92

HEALTH+WELLNESS
Forget the Year of the Rat, 2020 is the
YEAR OF SLEEP
WE ALL NEED IT, WE ALL LOVE IT, YET VERY FEW OF US ARE GETTING ENOUGH OF IT.
SLEEP IS A FUNDAMENTAL PART OF OUR LIVES, YET MORE AND MORE OF US ARE
SUFFERING FROM A LACK OF SLEEP, OR GOOD QUALITY SLEEP.
The importance of sleep
Tatler is already calling sleep ‘the new status symbol’,
as it is proving elusive to millions in our busy, time-
poor, modern lives. Sleep has never been more
important, and the profile of it is set to rise this year.
We have already had the recent presentation of a
Sleep Manifesto to the House of Commons just last
month from The Sleep Council and The Sleep
Charity. The aim? To push sleep up the public
health agenda. As Lisa Artis, chief advisor for The
Sleep Council explains, “Government recognition
of the need to take sleep seriously would be a major
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step forward in improving the health of the nation.
Everyone is aware of public health messages
around exercise and eating with the ‘Five a Day'
mantra well established. What we want to see is the
same public awareness around the need to ‘Sleep
for Seven'."
On 13 March, we see World Sleep Day taking place.
Designed to raise awareness of sleep as a human
privilege that is often compromised by the habits of
modern life.
Then in May, sleep will be the key theme of Mental
Health Awareness Week organised by The Mental
Health Foundation. Focusing on the connections
between sleep – or the lack of it – and mental health,
this week will provide information and advice, and
campaign for change to improve wellbeing and
recovery. “Sleep is the unsung hero for our mental
health” said Mark Rowland, chief executive of the
Mental Health Foundation. “By understanding what
affects our sleep, we can help protect the mental
health of millions of people and also support recovery.
We want to start a national conversation about how
we can all sleep better – and uncover the hidden
mental health costs of the poor sleep that affects so
many of us.”