FUZZY-HEADED, lack of concentration, constant yawning...

We’re not getting enough sleep, says the Royal Society for Public Health.

And it’s showing.

Lack of sleep stops us being as healthy as we should be because it prevents us enjoying optimum health and it’s associated with conditions including cancer, diabetes, heart attack and depression.

Adults are only getting 6.8 hours a night rather than the 7.7 hours people feel they need and that leaves us shortchanged by an average of almost an hour every night.

That adds up to almost seven hours’ sleep a week or almost a whole night’s worth.

Yikes! I’ve just started going to bed half an hour earlier because I’m beginning to feel the sleep strain. I’m naturally a night owl – my ideal day would be getting up at around midday and going to bed in the early hours of the morning.

I’m so not a morning person but groaningly set the alarm clock for 7.10am on every working day so that I’m up in time to see my children before they head off at 8ish for their day at school or college.

It is akin to torture for me and I so envy those, like my mother, who are up with the lark, happy and cheerful as the sun rises.

Before she retired last year, my mother rose at 6am and would have cleaned a couple of rooms, exercised and washed up the breakfast pots before she’d even thought about getting ready for work.

Me? I’m sluggish, half asleep for at least half an hour after I’ve actually got out of bed, grumpy and disorientated and I only start feeling human when I’ve drunk a bucketful of strong tea.

It’s not a good way to start the day and I’ve realised that recently as I’ve begun yawning more and more, giving a very bad impression to people talking to me and just generally feeling exhausted.

Lack of sleep is the obvious cause but it has taken me a while to realise it.

We do tend to dismiss the importance of sleep or not even think about it as a health issue at all. I think part of the problem is that many people of my generation (born in the Sixties) are reluctant to grow up and still yearn to behave as we did in our youth.

And that means burning the candle at both ends, just because we feel we can.

And we’re also a generation desperate to keep up with the tech revolution, reluctant to switch off the iPhone or laptop late into the night in case we miss the latest news or email or update.

Technology is a huge factor in sleep disruption but it’s ridiculous – as if there aren’t enough hours in the day to fit it all in. And let’s face it, most of it isn’t essential.

We have simply categorised it as such because the younger generation has.

We need a rethink on priorities.If you are constantly tired, it means you cannot be living life to the full and that’s really very tragic. It means biting the bullet and switching off all those screens and winding down for the night – and getting a good night’s sleep, so heavenly, so refreshing, so life-affirming.

That’s why I’ve started going to bed earlier. Don’t think it will help reduce the bags under my eyes any time soon, though.

The Argus:

Job interviews are inherently stressful but for bosses to then ask interviewees ridiculous questions with no connection to the job they want is just cruel.

Jobs site Glassdoor asked candidates what questions they had been asked in interviews and they included the following gems:

  • What magic power would you like to have?
  • How many nappies are bought every year?
  • How long would it take to clean every window in London?
  • How would you fit an elephant into a fridge?
  • How many people born in 2013 were named Gary?

Almost all of these questions are unanswerable and any answers given would be pointless. Most candidates for jobs carry out research about the job they are applying for and the company they hope to work for – but there’s no preparation possible for this kind of drivel.

Susan Underwood of Glassdoor explains the reasoning: “Employers are asking tough interview questions to test a job candidate’s critical thinking skills, see how they problem solve on the spot and gauge how they approach difficult situations.”

If anyone asked me a question like this, I’d tell them to stuff their job. I wouldn’t want to work for a company employing such juvenile minds.