Sleep is essential to health: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine position statement

Abstract

Sleep is a biological necessity, and insufficient sleep and untreated sleep disorders are detrimental for health, well-being, and public safety. Healthy People 2030 includes several sleep-related objectives with the goal to improve health, productivity, well-being, quality of life, and safety by helping people get enough sleep. In addition to adequate sleep duration, healthy sleep requires good quality, appropriate timing, regularity, and the absence of sleep disorders. It is the position of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) that sleep is essential to health. There is a significant need for greater emphasis on sleep health in education, clinical practice, inpatient and long-term care, public health promotion, and the workplace. More sleep and circadian research is needed to further elucidate the importance of sleep for public health and the contributions of insufficient sleep to health disparities.

Prevalence of Sleep Disorders, Risk Factors and Sleep Treatment Needs of Adolescents and Young Adult Childhood Cancer Patients in Follow-Up after Treatment

“…Additionally, childhood cancer survivors indicated an unmet need and the difficulty they have finding fitting psychosocial care [ 77 ]. Our findings also confirm this for sleep disorders, which is comparable to low access to sleep care in the general population [ 10 , 36 ], and for adults who had cancer [ 78 ]. Helping childhood cancer survivors to find appropriate sleep treatment can fulfill this unmet need and improve their quality of life [ 79 ].…”

“…In a longitudinal community-based study following children and adolescents, the presence of a sleep problem increased the chance of reporting a new medical disorder and new medication use in follow-up [ 1 ]. Recently, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine published a position paper about the essential role of sleep for health [ 10 ] and they stated that the importance of sleep should be more acknowledged within research, clinical care, in hospital sleeping conditions, and in educational programs for health professionals. For example, in a study among children and adolescents in primary care, it was found that sleep disorders were fairly underdiagnosed [ 11 ].…”

“…Furthermore, it is also important to consider the patient’s need for sleep treatment. In the general population, sleep disorders are underdiagnosed [ 11 ] and access to sleep treatment is limited due to a shortage of sleep therapists and sleep clinics [ 10 , 36 ]. Information on the prevalence of sleep disorders combined with the patient’s need for sleep treatments will allow for a better organization of (long-term) follow-up care of childhood cancer patients and survivors.…”

Are Sleep Problems Related to Psychological Distress in Healthy Aging during the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Review

“…Sleep is a biological function, an active behavior, crucial and vital for brain health and wellbeing at any age. It influences health status, quality of life, functioning, autonomy, and safety [7]. Indeed, recent findings suggest that good sleepers remain cognitively preserved for longer, report reduced rates of psychiatric diseases, and have a higher average life expectancy [8].…”

Chronic Sleep Deprivation Blocks Voluntary Morphine Consumption but Not Conditioned Place Preference in Mice

“…Sleep is an essential biological function that has many roles in maintaining the health of an organism, and better sleep quality is beginning to be emphasized in education and medicine ( Eban-Rothschild et al, 2017 ; Ramar et al, 2021 ). The amount of time adults sleep has decreased since the 1940s, leading the CDC to classify insufficient sleep as a public health epidemic ( CDC, 2015 ).…”