PEOPLE living by the seaside find it hardest to sleep, NHS figures suggest.
Residents in coastal areas were among the biggest recipients of sleeping tablets dished out last year.
It comes as experts warn people are finding it hard to switch off their phones at night, leading to insomnia.
Some 1.1million people in England were prescribed sleeping pills by their GP in 2023.
The highest proportion was in Wirral, Merseyside, with 3.4 per cent of patients getting help nodding off.
Also high on the sleep-deprived list were Brighton (2.8 per cent), Devon (2.7 per cent), Cornwall and Southend (both 2.4 per cent).
By contrast, parts of London had just one per cent receiving kip assistance.
Figures show GPs wrote 7.9million prescriptions for tablets last year at a cost to the NHS of £96million.
Patients in their 50s were the most likely to get pills, followed by 70-somethings.
The most common medication was zopiclone, which made up more than half of all prescriptions. There have been concerns people can become hooked on them.
Experts advise a stable bedtime routine involving no phones or tablets.
Lee Fernandes, of the UK Addiction Treatment Group, said: “A person’s sleep is vital to overall health.
“But for many, day-to-day stresses can interrupt or prevent sleep altogether, and the desire to treat this with a pill is all too easy.
“It is important somebody only takes sleeping tablets for the amount of time prescribed and work on improving sleep through exercise, mindfulness and a proper sleeping routine.”
