I wonder how many people took advantage of National Sleep In Day.

I like the idea, though it would create more of an impact were it moved to Monday. Research has shown that Sunday is the hardest night of the week to get a good, undisturbed sleep, with 60 per cent of workers finding it hard to settle.

I tried to have an extra hour’s shuteye yesterday, but failed.

The older I get, the harder it is to sleep in. Once-upon-a-time I could sleep until lunchtime without any problem, but now my eyelids seem to roll up like window blinds around 7am, and by 8am I’m itching to put the kettle on and have a cup of tea.

It’s quite normal. Apparently the average number of hours people sleep falls with age, and there is a marked drop over the age of 54. So in six years’ time, I should be getting up to make a brew at 5am.

My husband hasn’t yet been hit by the compulsion to get up early. He still has no problem snoozing until noon. Maybe it’s because he’s two years younger than me and the need to rise and shine with the lark hasn’t yet kicked in.

He finds my early rising irritating to say the least. “Close those curtains!” he will sleepily mumble, “What are you doing getting up at this time?”

We’ve never been co-ordinated in our sleeping habits. He goes to bed early, I retire late, I get up early, he gets up late.

But that’s not unusual. I don’t know any couples who share the same bedroom habits. Those slick adverts showing men and women happily lounging in their bed, with coffee, croissants and the Sunday papers spread out across the duvet, are pure fantasy.

My husband goes ballistic if I read so much as a postcard in bed while he’s trying to snooze.

I’ve supped many a cup of tea in a dark bedroom, taking care not to slurp.

The problem is, I don’t want to get up early. I want to sleep late. I want to snuggle under the duvet and slumber until noon.

It’s unfair that for years, when I wanted to lie in, I had to get up to tend to young children. Now that my kids are sleeping in themselves, my body clock has gone haywire and I feel the need to spring out of bed at the crack of dawn.

So National Sleep In Day was wasted on me. I hope I’m back to normal when National Love Your Bed Week kicks off in August.