Who could ever have imagined that sleep could be the triggering factor of a veritable epidemics? To make matters clear, we're not talking about oversleeping, but rather about poor quality sleep, which, scientists have proven, can lead to anything from obesity to chronic exhaustion. It sabotages our jobs by making us less productive and taking days off in order to try and rest properly, it sabotages our love lives and makes us prone to a horde of other conditions, both medical and psychological. British scientists have even come up with a name for this condition, which they have begun to call "junk sleep".

In order for sleep to be effective, we need at least eight solid hours of sleep every night. Of course, most of us with a job, children and/or a hefty mortgage to pay every month will go "ha!" at the thought of averaging eight hours of relaxed rest in a comfortable bed every night - and the truth is, even if we somehow manage to sleep for eight hours, that's no guarantee we'll also get as much rest as we need. Anything from work-related stress to noisy neighbors, physical complaints such as back pain or heartburn and financial worries can keep our brains in limbo, with very harmful results. Indeed, people who do not get enough sleep have a higher risk of becoming overweight or even obese and are prone to depressions and an overall negative outlook on life.

A recent study conducted in the UK on 4,000 adults showed that only 21% of the survey participants get as much sleep as they need, with one in five of them surviving on less than five hours' sleep a night. "The body needs quality sleep for learning new skills and mental agility", said Dr Chris Idzikowski of the Edinburgh Sleep Center, who coined the term "junk sleep". "Sleep interruptions such as stress and muscle cramp disturb this function and can be very detrimental to everyday life, making it impossible to be productive at work and maintain a positive attitude", he added. Junk sleep is therefore something we should all look out for - and if we feel we're not sleeping enough, we should definitely seek help.