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If you're not getting enough sleep, it might be time to pack up and move.

Australians aren’t quite the party animals we like to think. In fact, on average we’re tucked up in bed earlier than anyone else in the world.

We’re also early risers, only beaten to the brekky table by the USA, according to a new global study of sleep patterns.

The study from the University of Michigan set out to uncover how the country you live in can affect the way you sleep.

Turns out if you value your shut eye, living down under isn’t a bad choice but an early night doesn’t necessarily equate to a long sleep.

sleep deprived parents
Probably don't migrate to Singapore if you value your lengthy sleeps. (Image via iStock)

It's actually the Dutch who get the most shut eye, sleeping for an average of 8 hours and 12 minutes each night.

People living in Singapore and Japan had the shortest sleeps, only clocking around 7 hours and 34 minutes.

The Spanish have the latest nights and people living in the United Arab Emirates have the biggest sleep ins.

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Earliest risers:

  1. USA
  2. Australia
  3. Denmark

Biggest sleep ins:

  1. United Arab Emirates
  2. Spain
  3. Italy

Earliest bed times:

  1. Australia
  2. New Zealand
  3. Belgium

Latest nights:

  1. Spain
  2. Singapore
  3. Italy

Longest sleeps:

  1. Netherlands
  2. New Zealand
  3. France

Shortest sleeps:

  1. Singapore
  2. Japan
  3. Brazil

Your circadian rhythm, aka your "body clock" is the main driver of your sleep cycle, but cultural factors can override biology, the study found.

Obviously, sunrise and sunset times make a difference but they also tend to be ignored in the real world -- thanks, black out curtains.

(Mothers confess the craziest things they've done, running on far too little sleep. Post continues after video...)

"Across the board, it appears that society governs bedtime and one's internal clock governs wake time, and a later bedtime is linked to a loss of sleep," co-author of the study Daniel Forger explained in the Science Advances journal.

"At the same time, we found a strong wake-time effect from users' biological clocks -- not just their alarm clocks. These findings help to quantify the tug-of-war between solar and social timekeeping."

The study was based on data from more than 5000 people in over 100 countries and was collected via a smart phone app.

Your age and sex also affect how much sleep you're likely to get, apparently.

Globally, the older you are, the earlier you tend to get up and men sleep less than women.

Middle-aged men sleep the least and women in general get an extra half hour a night because they were more likely to schedule time to rest.

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