Studies have suggested politicians are among the most sleep-deprived members of our society. It isn't exactly surprising given the high degree of stress and anxiety related to the jobs of politicians and policymakers; tight schedules and frequent travelling make the matter worse.

Research conducted by the UK-based Sleep Council, which compared eight groups, found the average politician got a little over 5 hours of sleep every night. In fact, only hospital doctors (and specifically those on call) had less, averaging 4.5 hours.

Hours Slept a Night:

Hospital doctors (on call): 4.5

Politicians: 5.2

Teachers: 6.0

Dustmen: 6.5

Social workers: 6.9

Mothers of young children: 7.1

Architects: 7.5

Solicitors: 7.8

The results of this study are of concern in that they demonstrate that our politicians, the people responsible for making decisions that affect all of our lives, may not be in the best mental or physical shape to do so, Jessica Alexander of the Sleep Council said.

Is this the reason why many of them are caught sleeping or yawning during office hours? Or are they sleeping over matters?!

Here are some instances where politicians from across the world were caught taking a quick nap or yawning during working hours.

Sleepy Politicians
Governor of the People's Bank of China Zhou Xiaochuan yawns during the annual meeting of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank Group held in Shanghai May 16, 2007. REUTERS/Aly Song
Sleepy Politicians
A delegate from France sleeps during a break in an all-night plenary meeting at the UN Climate Change Conference 2009 in Copenhagen December 19, 2009. REUTERS/Bob Strong
Sleepy Politicians
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe attends the plenary session at the Africa-South America Summit in Margarita Island September 26, 2009. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins
Sleepy Politicians
Kang Ki-jeong (L) and Choi Jae-seong, lawmakers of the main opposition Democratic Party, sleep on a sofa which is used as a barricade to block a doorway of the National Assembly plenary session hall in Seoul January 4, 2009. REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak
Sleepy Politicians
British Prime Minister Tony Blair yawns before a meeting in Heiligendamm June 7, 2007. Leaders from the world's major industrialised nations meet in the Baltic resort of Heiligendamm on June 6-8 for a Group of Eight (G8) summit. REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov
Sleepy Politicians
Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown yawns inside the Security Council Chambers during a high-level meeting on peace and security in Africa at the United Nations headquarters in New York April 16, 2008. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Sleepy Politicians
Japan's Finance Minister Naoto Kan (R), next to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, attends the Upper House Budget Committee at the parliament in Tokyo March 10, 2010. Kan shot down the idea of a formal policy pact with the Bank of Japan as the government aims to strike a delicate balance between pushing the central bank to ease further and respecting its independence. REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao
United kingdom