I haven’t told too many people what I’m about to tell you.

I love watching an episode of Grand Designs on a weekend morning (the UK version mind you).

It’s my reset button - my escape from the busy-ness of the working week.

And the Grand Designs episodes I like best are the ones where the self-builders escape the busy-ness of the city and escape to the country.

This week, one of my Scandinavian sleep colleagues showed me her new lake cabin - where she escapes to the country - where there is peace and serenity …

When I have overseas visitors come over to stay in Australia, I always ask them to watch an Australian movie called “The Castle”.

It’s about a man - enjoying (and fighting) for his Castle (ie, his home).

And one evening - where there’s only the noise of the crackling electricity tower - he asks:

There is an assumption that if we escape to the country that we will sleep better because there is less noise.

Anecdotally, I’ve had another sleep colleague - who lives in bustling Sydney - say that she finds it harder to sleep in silence when she escapes to the country. That the low hum of traffic is soothing.

So how true is it?

Do people in rural areas sleep better than those in the city?

Can The Mexicans Help Us Answer This Question?

This week saw us publish a new study in the journal Sleep Health - a large analysis of the sleep of Mexicans.

In this population study, we were able to look at various characteristics that influence sleep duration, including age, gender, substance use, BMI -and even what state people lived in:

In short, Mexicans who lived in Rural areas obtained - on average - 7 hr 37 min of sleep on weeknights.

In comparison, those who resided in Urban areas obtained 7 hrs and 13 min.

This might mean a difference of only 24 min.

But that’s 24 min per weeknight.

Multiply that by 5 weeknights - and those in Rural areas are getting 2 hrs more sleep per week.

With a statistic like that - perhaps a new intervention to improve sleep is:

I’d certainly love that kind of treatment.

How about you? Would you sleep better in the country? Or are you comforted by the hum of the city? Feel free to comment.

If you’d like to learn more about what it’s like to sleep in Mexico, feel free to download our new study here.

• Prof Mike Gradisar