Biology and lifestyle have a big impact on how much women sleep, and it is further impacted by women not giving sleep a high enough priority. People don't understand that "sleep is a biological need," says Dr Jeffrey Barasch, director of The Valley Hospital Sleep Centre in Ridgewood, New Jersey.

Do you and your family get up tired, suffering from fatigue during the day because you couldn’t sleep at night? Are allergies to blame? If so, you’re not alone.

Sleep masks are used at home, in a hotel, or while travelling as a passenger in a car, train, or airplane to block out either natural light (sunlight) or artificial light. Night shifters use them to sleep during the day and patients in hospitals use them to block out light emitting from the hallway. Others use them simply to relax or meditate or block the light when their partner is reading in bed.

In an age of information overload, we are bombarded daily with oodles of data that bog down our body and brains, as we try to catch up with every bit of information that shows up by cutting on our sleep time. 30 percent or 40.6 million of American adults are sleeping six hours or less on a daily basis. You might be one of them!