The American Thoracic Society has released a policy statement with new recommendations to help the public achieve a better night's sleep.
The recommendations are clinicians and their patients, and hope to help Americans achieve both good quality, and an adequate amount of sleep.
"Sleep plays a vital role in human health, yet there is a lack of sufficient guidance on promoting good sleep health," said Sutapa Mukherjee, chair of the committee that produced the statement. "In this statement, with an eye towards improving public health, we address the importance of good quality sleep with a focus on sleep health in adults and children; the effects of work schedules on sleep; the impact of drowsy driving; and the diagnosis and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea and insomnia."
The statement stresses that a good quality of sleep is essential to health, and the amount needed varies from individual to individual. Sleep is especially important in children, and should be given special attention. The report suggests age-based recommendations for sleep duration be developed for children; and these recommendations should allow the child to wake up spontaneously at their desired time. For adolescents, it was recommended school start times should be delayed to better-align with "physiological circadian propensity of this age group."
Both short sleep durations (six hours or less) and long sleep durations (over nine or 10 hours) have been linked to adverse outcomes. The optimal sleep duration for adults is between seven and nine hours, but these numbers can vary according to individuals' needs. Sleep disorders have been linked to significant morbidity, which can have an economic impact. It can also lead to accidents associated with drowsy driving and sleepiness in the workplace.
The report also highlighted the fact that many individuals with sleep disorders remain undiagnosed, and there is a need for health care providers to receive more formal training on the importance of sleep to health and how to evaluate these disorders.
"These recommendations are based on a comprehensive review of the literature and the experience of a panel of clinicians and scientists with expertise in sleep health," said Atul Malhotra, president of the American Thoracic Society and a member of the team that produced the statement. "They provide an important framework for promoting healthy sleep on a wide scale, which would in turn generate a number of additional health and other benefits."
The findings were published in a recent edition of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
