It will be no great surprise to mothers that a new study confirms that moms (and mums) get less sleep than fathers. Researchers in the USA analyzed data on the sleeping habits of 5,800 men and women. They wanted to find out what affects adults' sleep. They found that having children in the house leads to less sleep for many mothers. Motherhood greatly reduces the number of hours a mother sleeps. Unsurprisingly, this had an adverse effect on her energy levels during the day. The study found that fathers' sleep remained largely unaffected by having kids in the house.

The study shows that children were the biggest cause of mothers not sleeping. Dr Kelly Sullivan said each child increased a woman's risk of not sleeping by 46%. Nearly half of mothers under 45 said they got seven hours of sleep a night, compared with 62% of women of the same age with no kids at home. A lack of sleep harms our physical and mental well-being. It increases the risk of diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and depression. Dr Sullivan said: "It's important to learn what is keeping people from getting the rest they need so we can help them work towards better health."