June 20, 2026Written by Citadel Health Store

Why Sleep Deserves More Credit Than You're Giving It

Four in ten Australians aren't getting enough sleep. Most of them know it. Far fewer understand what it's actually costing them.

Why Sleep Deserves More Credit Than You're Giving It

It's 3 am. You're wide awake, staring at the ceiling, mind already running through tomorrow's to-do list. You fell asleep fine, you always do, but here you are again. This isn't about not getting enough sleep. You're doing "all the right things." And yet, your body keeps pulling you away from the one thing you need most.

Australians Are Running on a Sleep Deficit

Four in ten Australians aren't getting enough sleep, and for most of them, it's due to their lifestyle. A report from the Sleep Health Foundation found that almost 60% of Australian adults experience at least one sleep symptom three or more times a week, including trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking too early. Almost 50% reported that their daily routine does not provide adequate opportunities to sleep.

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, sufficient sleep is more common on weekends (46%) than on weekdays (39%). Most of us are running a weekly sleep debt and trying to catch up on Saturday morning, which is a strategy that doesn't work the way we'd like to.

People who work late are even more affected. The AIHW found that 70% of people who do work-related tasks in the hour before bed report two or more sleep problems, compared to 37% of those who don't. If you're checking emails at 10 pm, your sleep might end up paying the price for it.

There is also a misconception around awareness of the importance of sleep. Some treat sleep as a luxury and not as a necessity. It can be seen as heroic or as a sign of strength to be able to work with minimal sleep. However, functioning on inadequate sleep is a slow accumulation of recovery debt that eventually shows up in performance, health, and decision-making.

How to Treat Insomnia

If you think you might suffer from insomnia, seek advice from your doctor. Insomnia can be caused by medical issues, and getting the right treatment is essential. For example, insomnia can be caused by low iron levels, depression, pain, or sleep apnea, and they are all treated differently.

Once the medical reasons have been ruled out, there are a number of things that you can do to improve your sleep:

Keep a consistent sleep and wake time, even on weekends.
Go to bed only when you feel tired.
Avoid screens and work tasks in the hour before bed.
Limit alcohol in the evening. It disrupts sleep quality even in small amounts.
Keep your bedroom cool, dark, and used only for sleep.
Avoid caffeine after midday (Read more: How Caffeine Disrupts Sleep and Cortisol Rhythm)
Lower stress and include breaks during the day.
Give yourself enough time to wind down before going to bed.
If you've tried the above consistently and sleep remains difficult, speak to a doctor or sleep specialist. For some people, poor sleep is simply how their body responds to stress, and a specialist can help you find the right approach for you specifically.

Most sleep advice focuses on adding things: a wind-down routine, drinking chamomile tea, and blue light glasses. Those can help. But for most active Australians, the bigger lever might be in subtracting: finishing work earlier, moving evening training to morning, cutting the late coffee, accepting that 11pm is genuinely costing you something. Most people who start consistently protecting their sleep notice a difference within days. More energy, better session quality, clearer thinking. Not because sleep is a performance hack, but because it was always doing the work. Sometimes protecting it is the most valuable thing you can do.

Common Sleep Myths

We need less sleep as we get older.

After a person has grown up, sleep needs don't decrease with age. What changes is sleep quality; for example, it becomes lighter and more easily disrupted. There can be many reasons for this, including pain, medication, and other health conditions that become more common with age.

You can train yourself to need less sleep.

Some people genuinely need less sleep than others, but it's not something you can train or do in advance. Most adults need around eight hours, and consistently getting less builds a sleep debt that eventually shows up in how you think, react, and perform.

Sleeping in on weekends fixes the week.

Catching up on sleep at the weekend helps in the short term, but it doesn't undo the effects of a full week of undersleeping. Consistent sleep habits are what maintain performance.