Last night I was up until midnight watching old episodes of The Office. I'm now regretting that decision, not because I thought Dwight shouldn't have pummelled Jim with all those snowballs, but because my tired-arse-looking face is literally making me look sick to other people, according to a May report from the Royal Society of Open Science. Good thing I hate talking to people.

Sleep is critical for physical and mental health, and our quality of life. While three per cent of the population are genetically programmed to function with less than six hours sleep regularly, the rest of us need around 7.5 hours a night. But what determines whether we like to go to bed early or late?

Modern life is all about innovating our way out of our inabilities. We're not meant to fly, or live 20 stories in the air, or speak to a friend in New Zealand. And (buzzkill alert) we're not meant to be awake when the sun don't shine. Of all that we can now do, the latter may be the most universal. If we've mastered anything, it's light. For the large part, this is good news; extra hours in the "day" mean we can socialise longer and get more work done.

We've written a lot about sleep -- from how a lack of sleep can undermine your weight loss and productivity to how sleeping too much can be counterproductive. Still, misconceptions about sleep persist. This video by Mental Floss helps clear up a few of them.

We're all familiar with that silly image of the person who resorts to counting sheep when they just can't seem to fall asleep. But when you're the one who's been tossing and turning all night, insomnia is no laughing matter.

Many people experience sleep problems every now and then, but how do you know when your trouble staying or falling asleep is cause for concern? The "rule of threes" can help.

From doing mental exercises to wearing socks to bed, there are several ways to try to fall asleep faster. This one might be the most pleasant: Picture a relaxing scene, like being on the beach or your last getaway.

We all have a poor night's sleep from time to time: those nights when you lie awake for hours trying desperately to go to sleep but can't stop worrying about tomorrow. Or when you repeatedly wake up throughout the night, or can't get back to sleep in the early hours of the morning.

It doesn't take a genius to know that too much TV can affect kids' sleeping habits. However, a new study has found that school-aged children experience shorter sleep duration after watching just 1.5 hours of television per day. In other words, all it takes is three episodes of a typical kids' TV show for sleep deprivation to kick in.

If herbs don't work to cure your insomnia and you can't convince yourself to get up and work, your PC might be the next best solution to sleeplessness. (No, we're not talking about in-depth financial news reporting.)

We tend to apply ergonomics as it relates to our waking activities. But utilizing the right sleep posture is just as important as having the right PC posture, especially if you want to enjoy a pain-free morning and day.

Insomniac and coder Chad Perrin says that hackers who stay up all night coding can get more done in those hours than most people can in a month because an all-nighter lends itself to getting into "hack mode," or the state of flow. The Jargon Wiki defines hack mode as: A Zen-like state of total focus on The Problem that may be achieved when one is hacking (this is why every good hacker is part mystic). Perrin says that insomniac coders kick into hack mode because there's no one else around to distract them and they have to stay quiet (and avoid the television) so not to disturb others sleeping. He also says the surreal perspective one gets at sunrise after a whole night awake encourages "crazy," creative thoughts and new ideas to emerge. Insomnia can really suck, but if you have to be awake all night, knocking something out in hack mode seems like the best way to do it. Insomnia and productivity