The importance of sleep in relation to overall well being and health has been understated in our society. Sleep regulates, as Dr. Zee phrased it, an ‘orchestra’ of internal functions that play crucial roles in our health. Our circadian clocks, which are involved in numerous pathways including homeostatic, metabolic, neuronal, etc., are aligned with the rotation of the sun around its axis. Due to this, our sleep wake cycle follows a pattern of light and dark in relation with the sun's rotation. Any disruption to this innate and self regulated circadian clock leads to misalignment of the multitude of pathways that feed into tissues and organs. Dr. Zee’s and her collaborators article “Circadian Disruption and Human Health” points out, the timing of when we sleep is crucial to maintaining our internal clock as for example the endocrine system releases certain hormones such as melatonin to help us sleep (Zee et al.,2021). As she said in her talk, timing supersedes the amount of sleep we get. In her experiments, Dr. Zee’s team found that the artificial light and disturbing this cycle negatively impacts weight regulation, insulin sensitivity, hypertension, and cardiometabolic functions. They tested lights at night (LAN) in older patients and found it impacted heart rate and caused the patients to be more prone to diabetes and obesity (Zee et al.,2021). In patients whose sleep schedule differed from the norm, such a sleeping late or missing sleep, they were also at a greater risk for diabetes and obesity (Zee et al.,2021). Overall, when we sleep and how much time we sleep is crucial to our overall and future health.
The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine published an article, “Sleep is essential to health: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine position statement”, on the education and alterations that need to be made to highlight the biological and psychological necessity of proper sleep. According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and Sleep Research Society (SRS), they recommend a total of 7 or more hours in all adults (Ramar et al., 2021). The CDC, however, reported that 32.5% of all adults fail to reach a full 7 hours and 74.6% of high school students, adolescents, also don't meet their sleep requirement (Ramar et al., 2021). This figure of 74.6% needs to change and the AASM is pushing for later school start times in order to fight this lack of sleep in teenagers, which they say has negatively impacted the entire population. In the medical field, the Journal points out that there is no formal sleep education or training for nurses, physician assistants, or registered nurses (Ramar et al., 2021). By educating health workers and emphasizing the importance of sleep, it can be possible to reduce health complications that arise from lack of sleep. It can also help to prevent unnecessary complications in older age and improve the overall public health.
Zee’s work showing the detrimental effects of sleep disruption and the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine’s emphasis on sleep education shows the urgent necessity of better sleep in our society. People need to know how much sleep they need and the effects of sleeping late or habitually staying in an altered sleep cycle. Proper education, changing school (and other public functions) start times, and altering when and how long one sleeps will lead to improved public health for everyone. By having the information at hand, people can then choose to alter their sleeping habits and hopefully improve their future wellbeing as well. Prevention of developing diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. can start with better sleeping habits.
References:
Fishbein, Anna B., et al. “Circadian Disruption and Human Health.” Journal of Clinical Investigation, vol. 131, no. 19, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1172/jci148286.
Ramar, Kannan, et al. “Sleep Is Essential to Health: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine Position Statement.” Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, vol. 17, no. 10, 2021, pp. 2115–2119., https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.9476.
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