The Big Sleep Survey is still open and the sleep researchers are busy collecting info on your sleeping habits.  Get your contributions in by 7 September to be in the running to win an amazing prize - something that might just keep you up all night!

Did you get a good night’s sleep last night? Or did your partner’s snoring wake you? Maybe you spent hours on the internet instead of sleeping… or kept your iPhone under your pillow, just in case. Whatever your sleep habits, Australian sleep scientists want to know about you!

A key activity during National Science Week is a project that is designed to inspire as many people as possible from all around the country to get involved in science. This year, The Big Sleep Survey 2010 will connect Australians and scientists, and result in some important research into this fascinating area.

The scientists at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research have been studying sleep for many years. They want to find out more about Australians’ sleep patterns to answer questions including:

• How much sleep are we actually getting?
• Have mobiles and laptops in the bedroom affected our sleep?
• What proportion of the population experience parasomnias such as sleepwalking, sleep talking, night terrors and restless leg syndrome?
• How many of us make up for a sleep deprived week by catching up on the weekend?

During Science Week, you can take part in the Big Sleep Survey 2010 by answering a number of questions on their sleep habits and undertaking a week long sleep diary.

As well as contributing to an important research project, each person participating in the Big Sleep Survey 2010 will can learn more about sleep and will go into the draw for an exciting prize.

With the first Sleep Experiment run more than ten years ago, it will be fascinating to see how changes in technology, especially laptops and mobiles, have edged their way into our sleep time and to find out if we’re actually sleeping more or less as a result!

The Big Sleep Survey 2010 is a National Science Week Citizen Science Research Project undertaken by the ABC in conjunction with the Centre for Integrated Research and Understanding of Sleep (CIRUS) at the University of Sydney.