Do you drag yourself awake every day? Read this before you go to bed tonight...you'll thank us in the morning!
Sleep Myths

You need eight hours a night to function at your best
"Everyone needs different amounts," explains sleep psychologist Dr Delwyn Bartlett. "You only need to worry you're sleep deprived if you start nodding off during the day." She adds most adults sleep for about seven hours a night - which is adequate.

If you can get it, more sleep is always healthier.
You wish. Studies have found that people who sleep more than eight hours a night die at a younger age than those who snooze less. What scientists don't know is whether sleeping longer causes poor health, or is a symptom of it, says Dr Brendon Yee, a sleep and respiratory physiciain at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. "We don't know how many of these 'longer sleepers' suffer from health complications that cause them to sleep for longer."

A few hours sleep is all you really need
Legendary short sleepers - such as Bill Clinton and Margaret Thatcher, who claimed to need just four hours a night - don't necessarily function better on fewer zzzs. "We don't know whether these people had power naps in the afternoon," adds Dr Yee. He warns that too little sleep can impair your judgment and attention span, weaken your immune system and even make you overweight by altering hormone levels. A recent study in the US* found that women who slept for five hours or less a night were 33 per cent more likely to gain 15kg over 16 years than women who had slept for seven hours.

Intermittent sleep at night means you'll be tired all day
There are indications that our ancestors slept this way, and many animals still do. "Waking [during the night] is a normal part of sleeping," points out Dr Bartlett. "Most people wake up three times a night, but don't remember it. It's only a problem if it takes too long for them to get back to sleep." One study** even found that when people lived without artificial lighting, they slept for three to five hours, woke for one or two, and then slept again for four or more hours - and they said they had never felt so rested!

Prescription drugs are a cure-all for insomnia
"It's important to remember that everyone has rotten sleep at some stage," says Dr Bartlett, who counsels against automatically reaching for drugs. Solutions such as avoiding caffeine for eight hours before bed, limiting alcohol intake and staying way from the computer late at night can usher you to the Land of Nod.

You can make up for lost sleep on the weekends
Bingeing on sleep over the weekend while not sleeping during the week, a pattern known as "sleep bulimia", makes it even more difficult to get refreshing sleep. "Weekend sleep-ins can make you feel even more sluggish," adds Dr Yee. "To maintain your body's natural rhythms, it's a good idea to get up at roughly the same time every day, even on the weekends."

*Harvard Nurses' Health Study
**US National Institute of Mental Health