AASM deems sleep 'essential to health' in position statement

Sleep represents a “biological necessity” that is “essential to health,” according to a position paper published by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine in Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

The authors of the statement also noted that poor sleep, as well as untreated sleep disorders, are “detrimental” to an individual’s health and well-being; such issues can also impact public safety. The understanding of the importance of sleep has increased in the previous decade, but “a significant need” remains for a greater emphasis on sleep health in education, clinical practice, inpatient and long-term care, public health and the workplace, according to a press release on the position statement.

“Healthy sleep is as important as proper nutrition and regular exercise for our health and well-being, and sleep is critical for performance and safety,” Kannan Ramar, MBBS, MD, sleep medicine physician at the Center for Sleep Medicine, professor of medicine in the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and immediate past president of the AASM, said in a press release. “It is the position of the AASM that sleep is essential to health, and we are urging educators, health care professionals, government agencies, and employers to prioritize the promotion of healthy sleep.”

Members of the 2020-2021 AASM board of directors wrote the statement, according to the press release. The group included 11 sleep medicine physicians and a clinical psychologist.

The statement included the following positions:

• Sleep education should feature prominently in K-12 and college health education, medical school and graduate medical education, and educational programs for other health professionals.
• Clinicians should regularly ask about sleep habits and symptoms of sleep and circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders and hospitals and long-term care facilities should optimize sleeping conditions.
• Healthy sleep should feature in public health and workplace interventions to improve health-related outcomes and behaviors that lead to healthy sleep should be actively promoted.
• Additional research on sleep and circadian rhythm is needed to explain the importance of sleep and the relationship between inadequate sleep and health disparities.

“Although the importance of sleep is widely recognized, as evidenced by the inclusion of sleep objectives in Healthy People 2030 (and its predecessor, Healthy People 2020), there is still a significant need for greater emphasis on sleep health in education, clinical practice, inpatient and long-term care, public health promotion, and the workplace,” Ramar and colleagues wrote.

Persistent poor sleep and untreated sleep disorders are associated with an increase in healthy and safety risks, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, workplace accidents and motor vehicles, the researchers noted in the press release. Additionally, data from surveys conducted by the CDC and the Maternal and Child Health Bureau demonstrated that 34.1% of children, 74.6% of high school students and 32.5% of adults in the United States consistently do not get enough sleep.

Ramar and colleagues also described the mechanisms that mediate the relationship between sleep and health as “complex and multifactorial.” Future research should examine the health and societal impact of sleep deficiency and circadian dysfunction, according to the researchers, and specifically assess interventions that are meant to evaluate the impact of better sleep and circadian alignment on physiological functioning, behavior, health and well-being throughout life.

“While significant resources have been invested in individual and population-level interventions to address health-related lifestyle factors such as nutrition, exercise and smoking, programs focusing on sleep health have been notably rare,” the researchers wrote. “To promote public health and safety, widespread support is needed to increase sleep education, improve sleep disorders screening, optimize sleep conditions for inpatients and residents of long-term care facilities, optimize sleep health through public health and workplace interventions and expand sleep health research.”

Reference:

American Academy of Sleep Medicine. New position statement declares that sleep is essential to health. Available at: https://aasm.org/new-position-statement-declares-that-sleep-is-essential-to-health/. Accessed June 22, 2021.