Sleep Expert Claims Workers Starting At 9am Are Subjected To ‘Torture’

It’s something we all knew already but now it’s official - starting work at nine in the morning is actually TORTURE - and one sleep expert says things need to change.

Dr Paul Kennedy, from the Sleep and Circadian Institute at Oxford University, claims that starting work before 10am is making us all ill.

He claimed that our circadian rhythm - essentially our natural body clock - is put out of rhythm by the regular 9 to 5 days - meaning we just can’t focus on much at all until later in the day.

In fact, constant 9am starts mean we won’t catch up with our circadian rhythm until we reach 55 - just ten years before we retire.

The whole thing is turning is into a “sleep-deprived society” and Dr Kennedy wants work hours to start at 10am instead.

He said: “Sleep deprivation is a torture. Thirty days without sleep and you die.

“It has about the same effect as not eating.

"Staff should start at 10am.

“You don’t get back to [the 9am] starting point until 55.

“Staff are usually sleep-deprived. We’ve got a sleep-deprived society.”

Claiming this was an “international issue”, he added: ‘We cannot change our 24-hour rhythms. You cannot learn to get up at a certain time…

“It is hugely damaging on the body’s systems because you are affecting physical, emotional and performance systems in the body.

“Your liver and your heart have different patterns and you’re asking them to shift two or three hours.

“This is an international issue. Everybody is suffering and they don’t have to.”

We’ve been saying this for years - it’s about time someone made Dr Kennedy the President of the world.

Pics: Rex