As a nation we are not sleeping enough and it’s impacting our health in all sorts of ways. Talk to almost any medic and that’s the message you’ll hear.

We've been hearing that message and our response is The Irish Times Sleep Challenge. Over the next four weeks Health + Family will be highlighting the type of sleep problems we are living with but also the medical and lifestyle changes we can make to improve our sleep. We have partnered with health technology specialist Dr Johnny Walker from Health Founders on this project which will have significant online elements.

We have selected four sleep champions, including Irish Times journalist Conor Pope, who will be having their sleep monitored for the duration of the project. We'll be looking at how to address the kind of problems they are having and readers will be able to follow their progress online.

The challenge that we are making to our readers is to start taking sleep seriously and to recognise the importance of getting the right amount of good quality sleep.

By following our sleep champions you’ll also see how its possible to make positive changes in a relatively short period of time.

JOHN COLLINS