Live better

LET GOOD DESIGN IMPROVE YOUR SLEEP

In our new monthly series, journalist Fleur Britten investigates an area of life at home we could all improve – and the solutions design has created to help us.

When a group of American sleep scientists studied African and South American hunter-gatherers in 2015, they discovered that these tribes didn’t experience anything like our levels of insomnia. Insomnia, they concluded, is a function of Western lifestyle. ‘Modern society is not conducive to sleep,’ concurs Prof Guy Leschziner, consultant neurologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London and author of The Nocturnal Brain. ‘A racing or worrying mind is not good for sleep – nor is a bright computer screen, surfing the internet or social media.’