SLEEP and sex are both more important than money when it comes to people’s happiness, a survey has found.

Researchers found that while people received four times their income had little effect on their sense of well being, feeling well-rested had a greater impact.

Sleep was the ‘strongest indicator’ of a sense of wellbeing, while ‘for the typical Brit, improving their sleep to the level of someone at the top of the Index would be equivalent to them having over four times as much disposable income’, the report found.

More than 8,000 people were surveyed as part of the study by Oxford Economics and the National Centre for Social Research.People who said they were deeply dissatisfied with their sex lives scored much lower in the rankings than people who said they were satisfied, despite their income.

Ian Mulheirn, director of consulting at Oxford Economics, said: “The richness of our relationships and support networks remains among the biggest determinants of how well we live – and represents an area of our lives in which we can act.”