REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep is like overnight therapy. The dreams that happen during this kind of sleep allow you to remember a difficult experience but gradually strip away the painful emotion it’s wrapped up in.

REM sleep is like a master piano tuner – it re-tunes your ability to react to emotional experiences.

Sleep disruption is associated with clinical depression and anxiety. It used to be seen only as a symptom, but increasingly it’s also seen as a cause of these disorders.

Getting the most from sleep involves ensuring you make an eight-hour sleep opportunity, starting before 11pm. Keeping your sleep schedule regular will also help.

Things that will disrupt sleep include screens, coffee and alcohol.

Getting eight hours of sleep on a regular basis is likely to make you more attractive, less likely to be obese, more fertile, less likely to get sick, less likely to be depressed, less likely to be anxious, and less likely to develop cancer, dementia, stroke, heart disease, diabetes and dementia.