FROM THE EDITOR

Everyone I know is tired. I’m tired. I bet you’re tired! It feels a bit like a bug that everyone’s caught. According to a YouGov survey last year, one in eight of us feels TATT, Tired All the Time, stuck in a state of constant exhaustion. Furthermore, another 25 per cent of the people surveyed said they felt tired most of the time.

So what’s going on? Mobile phones, a non-stop lifestyle and, in the last few years, a daisy chain of global crises, can all share some of the blame for keeping us up at night. But more serious issues, like sleep disorders, are on the rise too. This sleeplessness adds up – it doesn’t just hinder our ability to enjoy life, it’s a major risk factor in a number of chronic diseases. Sleep, as the neuroscientist and author of Why We Sleep, Dr Matthew Walker, puts it, is like our superpower. It helps us form memories, and recovers and resets our body and brain in more ways than we understand.

Over on p66, Catherine Offord explains what we know about this looming health crisis, and shares what the sleep experts suggest you do to hit a hard reset on your sleep and reclaim your rest.

In the meantime, I strongly suggest you check out our very relaxing podcast. You can find it on your preferred podcast app, where you’ll hear us interviewing scientists about some of the stories that you’ll find in this issue, as well as others that never make it to the page. This month we’ve covered how ChatGPT is set to revolutionise education, how you can make your garden welcoming to wildlife, and how light pollution could rob future generations of the chance to see the stars.

Enjoy the issue!