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The sleep economy is booming – from hi-tech sleep trackers to apps and cooling mattresses – and its worth is estimated at hundreds of billions of US dollars every year. So why do some of us still have trouble dropping off?

Part of the explanation may lie in our sex, as some studies suggest that women are 40 per cent more likely to experience sleep disruption than men. And throughout a woman’s life, puberty, pregnancy, menopause and caring responsibilities may all have an effect on the amount of good quality sleep available to women.

Kim Chakanetsa is joined by psychologist Dr Christine Blume from the Centre for Chronobiology at the University of Basel in Switzerland, whose research focuses on our circadian rhythms, and Dr Anita Shelgikar, clinical professor of neurology and programme director for the Sleep Medicine Fellowship at the University of Michigan in the United States.