It was really the invention of the electric light bulb that precipitated a decline in sleeping hours since it became possible to stay up till all hours reading or even working.

Add 24 hour television, and then the internet to the mix, and we’re rapidly becoming a sleep deprived lot.

According to a recent study, American adults are sleeping on average less than seven hours a night - down an hour and a half from the amount of sleep people got a hundred years ago. Many scientists believe that one of the major causes of our getting less sleep is the modern availability of round-the-clock activities and entertainment, the most pervasive source of which is now certainly the internet. With the Net, we can now work, study, or play at 3am and increasingly, we do. Naturally, most of us in the IT industry have formed an especially close bond with the Net, making us more prone to losing sleep.