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We are one of the most sleep-deprived countries in the world. In The Truth About Sleep, insomniac Michael Mosley finds out what happens if we don’t get enough sleep and looks at surprising solutions to help us get more.Conventional wisdom says we should be getting at least seven hours’ sleep a night, while teenagers should be aiming for more like nine hours sleep. But most of us aren’t getting close to that.A survey by the Sleep Council suggests only 22% of British adults get the recommended seven-to-eight hours, with 40% saying they get six hours or less.I am one of those who struggle to get enough sleep.It’s not that I am out partying every night, nor do I have any problems getting to sleep, but I regularly wake up in the middle of the night and struggle to get back to sleep.To find out why, I’ve made a documentary, The Truth about Sleep, during which I teamed up with world-renowned experts to pick apart research on sleep, and conduct some pioneering tests on willing volunteers.What I discovered is that while there are some individuals who can get by perfectly well on less than seven hours, most of us can’t.As well as looking at the impact on our body and brain of too little sleep, one of the things we were keen to explore was which techniques to improve sleep really make a difference and which seem to be based on myth.Eating turkey, for example, is said to help you sleep better because it contains a substance called tryptophan, which will help you sleep.Yet turkey isn’t particularly rich in tryptophan, and what there is in the meat isn’t likely to reach the brain.The approaches we looked into ranged from the surprising to the well known. They included:Getting up at the same time every morningGoing on a morning walk or run most daysEating two kiwi fruit an hour before bedPractising mindfulnessHaving a warm bath or shower one to two hours before going to bedRemoving electronic devices from the bedroom and turning off all screens at least an hour before bed, including TV, computers, mobile phone and all social mediaSkipping alcoholEating foods richer in fibreWeb page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08q8p13