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Having problems falling asleep or experiencing disturbed sleep at night? You might want to kick the butt for a peaceful sleep. A new study has revealed that smokers have a higher rate of insomnia or disturbed sleep at night as compared to non-smokers.

A study done by researchers from Germany shows an increased rate in smokers who got less than six hours of sleep, including sleep disruption, than those who did not smoke.

"This study demonstrates for the first time an elevated prevalence of sleep disturbance in smokers compared with non-smokers in a population without lifetime history of psychiatric disorders even after controlling for potentially relevant risk factors," lead author of the study, Stefan Cohrs, from Charite Berlin medical school in Germany was quoted saying by Mail Online.

Cohrs further said that a cause and effect relationship could not be established between smoking and lack of sleep, since it is possible that smokers may have other habits hampering their sleep cycle such as staying up late to watch TV or getting little exercise.

However, it is also possible that it is the stimulation from nicotine is responsible for the same.

"If you smoke and you do suffer from sleep problems, it is another good reason to quit smoking," Cohrs said.

Apart from making your waking hours difficult, according to some previous studies, poor sleep has also been associated with obesity, diabetes and heart disease.

For the study, the researchers quizzed 1,071 smokers and 1,243 non-smokers, who were free of mental health disorders about their sleep habits. Persons with mental health disorders are more likely to smoke as well as be vulnerable to sleep problems.

It was found that more than one-fourth of the smokers suffered from "disturbed" sleep, which means that there could be a high probability of insomnia.

In spite of considering factors such as age, weight and alcohol abuse, researchers still found smoking linked to poor sleep quality.

The findings from about 1,100 smokers surveyed revealed that 17 percent slept for lesser than six hours each night while 28 per cent reported experiencing "disturbed" sleep quality.

In the 1,200 plus non-smokers surveyed, the rate of people sleeping less than 6 hours and those experiencing disturbed sleep was 7 percent and 19 percent, respectively.

The study appeared in the journal Addiction Biology.