Sleep And Health/Tech – It’s National Sleep Awareness Week

The post below originally ran on Health Populi on March 9.
One in three people suffer from some form of insomnia in the U.S. With sleep a major contributor to health and wellness, we recognize it’s National Sleep Awareness Week.
As a health economist, I’m well aware of sleep’s role in employee productivity, absenteeism and presenteeism. U.S. companies lose 11.3 days of lost work performance per person who suffers from insomnia, according to research from a Harvard-based team published in the journal Sleep. The cost of this to U.S. business is about $63 billion annually.
Science writers at the BBC developed a long list of modern-life issues that deter us from sound sleeping. The major culprits are pervasive technology, lights, noise, heat, and stimulants (like alcohol and coffee), as illustrated in the BBC’s drawing of How We Live Now.
Some key health issues you may not know about sleep are that…
Sleeplessness can contribute to the risk for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
Lack of sleep can activate the cannibinoid system, which can lead us to crave high-calorie foods (à la “the munchies”), based on research conducted by a team from the University of Chicago.
Poor sleep patterns can contribute to or be an indication for poor mental health, depression and anxiety, according to Dr. Lawrence Epstein at the Harvard Sleep Lab.
On the up-side, good sleep is thought to be “nature’s beauty treatment.” The concept ...

Source: Disruptive Women in Health Care - March 11, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: dw at disruptivewomen.net Tags: Consumer Health Care Source Type: blogs