Waking tired all the time? You are not alone 😉

MORE than eight in 10 Australians have trouble falling asleep at least some of the time - while almost half of us get six or less hours of sleep a night.

A survey of almost 20,000 Australians, carried out by the ABC, found 44% get six or less hours of sleep per night.

And just one in 10 report waking feeling refreshed in the morning.

One of the factors could be that half of us are ignoring the advice not to use technology before going to bed.

A reported 48% use a smartphone or tablet in the hour before trying to get to sleep.

Professor David Hillman, sleep physician and chair of the Sleep Health Foundation, told the ABC that the vast majority of us really do need considerably more than six hours - with a very small exception.

"It is estimated that between 1 and 3 per cent of adults genuinely need less than six hours sleep per night," Dr Hillman said.

"Most people sleeping less than the recommended seven to nine hours are sleep depriving themselves - often in the vain hope of getting more done."

Dr Hillman told the ABC that its survey results were not a surprise.

"More than 30 per cent of Australian adults complain of unrefreshing sleep on a nightly or near nightly basis."

Experts say that people over the age of 65 were the least likely to get seven to nine hours of sleep.

That has been linked to weaker melatonin rises overnight.

More than three quarters of those surveyed said they worried about sleep at least some of the time.

And of course, that only makes it harder to get to sleep.

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