It’s a question that many of us dread: ‘So... did you sleep well last night?’ For Londoners, the answer seems to be a resounding, ‘No’. Right now it feels as though almost everyone in the capital will tell you that they’re having trouble sleeping. We are a city that’s tossing and turning. Wired and unable to switch off. Spiralling when we don’t fall asleep within minutes of climbing into bed. A study in 2022 found that Hackney and Islington residents google ‘Why can’t I sleep?’ more than any others, making them the most sleep-deprived postcodes in the UK. Mattress-maker Silentnight concluded Londoners are the worst sleepers in the country, while 63 per cent of us told researchers at King’s College London that our sleep had worsened during lockdowns. And what was bad during the pandemic is now worse.
Prof Guy Leschziner, author of The Secrets of Sleep, who runs sleep disorder clinics at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospitals, blames the cost-of-living crisis. ‘People are feeling pessimistic about the current state of the country and there are significant financial anxieties,’ he says. ‘We shouldn’t underestimate the impact on sleep.’
