DOES EVEN THE thought of hearing an alarm make you want to yawn or go make yourself another cup of coffee? That’s not a huge surprise when it’s estimated that around one third of Irish people get less than six hours sleep a night.

When we asked readers about their sleep satisfaction for The Health Check with Irish Life Health last month, they said they’d only give it a 5/10. Equally, they’d only rate their chances of getting the National Sleep Foundation-recommended 7-9 hours sleep per night as 5.5/10.

And when we put the results to a sleep expert, he explained how to get back on track through increasing your sleep drive, decreasing your sleep debt and avoiding the four habits that tend to tamper the most with our shut-eye. 

So, now that we’ve crunched the numbers on our sleeping habits and heard advice from the experts, we want to have a look at the individual stories behind these ratings – how are people in Ireland sleeping these days, and what do they do to feel less tired?

We hit the streets one morning to ask busy people in Dublin – how do they manage their sleep and stay refreshed during the day?

The reasons for having trouble sleeping included everything from snoring husbands to stress in their personal life to Pokemon Go: “I always go, ‘I’m gonna catch one more and go to sleep’”, shared one man.

Read more from The Health Check:

Are you chilled out or burned out? Rate your stress levels here

Fighting a yawn or feeling refreshed? Rate your sleep here

Five-a-day or five takeaways a week? Rate your diet here

Smashing your PB or just catching your breath? Rate your fitness here 

Over the next few months as part of The Health Check, we’ll be capturing a snapshot of our health as a nation with Irish Life Health. We’ll be compiling anonymous, real-time ratings and talking to experts about the results and what they mean for our health. We know Irish Life. We are Irish Life Health.