Health: A good night's rest doesn't have to be in your dreams

Ayers Rock at sunrise? The goal line at Easter Road? For me, without a shadow of doubt, it's my bed. I'm never more content than when snuggled beneath the duvet with nine hours of uninterrupted slumber stretching ahead of me.

I doubt Margaret Thatcher and I would get on. Never mind our politics, the former prime minister was happier handbagging some union boss than in the Downing Street divan, and famously got by on just five hours a night. No wonder she was so angry.

But the latest research supports my way of thinking and, this being National Bed Month, perhaps we should all spend more time between the sheets. A report last month found that the number of people getting the recommended amount of sleep has fallen from 26 per cent to 19 per cent in the last five years. And the number snoozing for six hours or less has risen from 12 to 16 per cent. So the Iron Lady wasn't alone.

However, a team from the University of California report that our need for sleep doesn't, as previously thought, decrease as we get older. "It's a fallacy," says Dr Sean Drummond, a psychologist at the university. "The quantity of sleep that we need does not go down as we age, but the ability to sleep in one chunk does get lost."

The study found that most of us perform best on seven to nine hours of sleep a night, while one in 20 needs more and only one in 50 can get by on less than six. "The more sleep last night, the more efficient brain function is today," he says.

There is more good news for sleepy heads from Dr Neil Stanley, at Norwich and Norfolk University Hospital, who links weight-loss with a good night's kip. That's because hormones released while we hibernate malfunction when we're tired, causing us to crave sugar and carbohydrates and making us unable to recognise when we've eaten enough. Then the sugar rush leads to a sugar low, another restless night and so on. "Sleep doesn't just make us feel better," says Stanley, "it can improve our health by decreasing the risk of heart attacks, diabetes and strokes, and it helps us fight off minor ailments, deal better with depression and even tackle weight problems."

Other studies show that those who sleep well have the lowest body mass index. Not only that, while you're flat out, your eight hours of shut-eye can burn between 400 and 900 calories and your organs go through a healing and regenerative processes that can't take place in the day. Hormones, too, are getting busy while we're getting our zzzs. Melatonin, which helps fight free radicals, repairing our cells and DNA, is at its highest levels while we sleep. So are growth hormones that help repair cells and tissues, and (in women) follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinising hormone, which are involved in the reproductive process. Because women work their brains harder during the day – it must be all that multi-tasking – they need more sleep than men at night; around 20 minutes, according to the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University.

But, while the Sleep Centre asked the question "If you were offered an extra hour a day, how would you spend it?", just a fifth of respondents said they would use the hour for sleep. So it looks as though I'm in the minority after all.

For more information, see www.sleepcouncil.com and www.edinburghsleepcentre.comHow to sleep well

Go to bed and get up at around the same time every day, which will programme your body to sleep better

Make your bedroom a restful place – it should not be too hot or cold and should be as quiet and dark as possible

Make sure your bed is comfortable

Before going to bed, relax by having a warm bath, listening to music or doing yoga

Make a list of things you must deal with the next day to avoid worrying about them overnight

Exercising regularly helps relieve stress, but too close to bedtime has the opposite effect

Cut down on caffeine in the evening and have a hot, milky drink or herbal tea instead

Don't eat too much food or drink too much alcohol late at night

Stop smoking: smokers take longer to fall asleep and wake more often through the night

If you can't get to sleep, don't toss and turn in bed – get up and do something relaxing until you start to feel sleepy

This article was first published in Scotland on Sunday, March 14, 2010