2010: The Big Sleep Survey - lie down and be counted!

Each year a National Project is run as part of National Science Week so that everyone around the country to participate in science and be part of the celebration.

This year our National Project is calling for citizen scientists to help researchers gather important data on our sleeping habits.

ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH SLEEP? Sleep scientists need YOU!

Australian sleep researchers from the Centre for Integrated Research and Understanding of Sleep (CIRUS) at the University of Sydney have teamed up with ABC Science to find out about how we're all sleeping. The Big Sleep Survey is on all through August and will answer some interesting questions such as:

• How much sleep are we actually getting?
• Have mobiles and laptops in the bedroom affected our sleep?
• How many people experience 'parasomnias', such as sleepwalking, sleep talking, night terrors and restless leg syndrome?
• Is someone else's snoring driving you crazy?!

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki from Sydney University and one of the Big Sleep Survey spokespeople said:

"We're all too busy these days and we get so much information coming at us from everywhere about how we should live our lives - what to eat, how to exercise, what hazards to avoid. But scientists need to know more about one of the most important things in our lives - sleep. Thirty percent of your life is spent sleeping, if you don't get it right it can have a serious impact on how you function every day. By joining the Big Sleep Survey you can help researchers find out more about our sleeping habits and maybe provide some insights to make sure we are all getting it right."

The first Sleep Survey was run in Australia ten years ago. Researchers now want to know how changes in technology, especially laptops and mobiles, have edged their way into our sleep time. Are we actually sleeping less as a result of better communication tools?

A hard night's sleep

It might look like you're doing nothing when you're asleep, but your brain is actually putting in a lot of work as your body rests. Studies have shown that the brain is as active during some parts of sleep as it is during the day.

Temperature, blood pressure and most body functions decrease overnight. But the brain keeps charging, flipping between two different states - REM and non-REM sleep. Most dreaming takes place in the REM stage. Scientists aren't sure why we sleep, but they do know that we need sleep to function. Being sleep-deprived results in poor concentration, irritability, daytime drowsiness and affects your immune system.

How to join in

Do the Sleep Survey to tell us about your sleep habits and fill in a week-long Sleep Diary by writing down what time you went to sleep and what time you woke up every day.

By joining in and helping you'll be in the running for a prize that will keep you awake way past bedtime...

Winners can choose between a smartphone (eg an iPhone or Blackberry), an e-reader (eg an iPad or Kindle), a games console (eg a PS3 or Wii) or $1000 worth of books from the ABC Shop.

The Big Sleep Survey 2010 is a National Science Week Project undertaken by the ABC in conjunction with CIRUS and funded by the Australian Government.