Sleep Disorders and Sleep Deprivation: An Unmet Public

Sleep Disorders and Sleep Deprivation: An Unmet Public Health Problem
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11617.html
SUMMARY 7
PUBLIC AND PROFESSIONAL AWARENESS
A well-coordinated strategy to improve sleep-related health care is required,
owing to the public health burden of sleep loss and sleep disorders
coupled with the low awareness among the general population, health care
professionals, professional societies, and policy makers. Increasing the
awareness and improving the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders
requires a multipronged effort that includes three key components: public
education, surveillance and monitoring of the burden of sleep loss and sleep
disorders, and training for health professionals. The preeminent goal of
these activities is to create and sustain a broad societal commitment to
adopting proper sleep habits as a primary tenet of health. Such a commitment
will require participation by those individuals and organizations in a
position to educate the public at national, state, local, and community
levels—including K–12 education, colleges and universities, medical schools,
nursing schools, hospitals, community clinics, local health departments,
private industry, and entertainment media. This will necessitate simultaneous
investment in public education campaigns for all age groups and a
sustained effort to integrate sleep-related content into curricula of undergraduate
education.
Recommendation 5.1: The National Center on Sleep Disorders
Research and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
should establish a multimedia public education campaign.
The National Center on Sleep Disorders Research—working with
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the proposed National
Somnology and Sleep Medicine Research Network, private
organizations and foundations, entertainment and news media, and
private industry—should develop, implement, and evaluate a longterm
national multimedia and public awareness campaign directed
to targeted segments of the population (e.g., children, their parents,
and teachers in preschool and elementary school; adolescents; college
students and young adults; middle-aged adults; and elderly
people) and specific high-risk populations (e.g., minorities).
Improve Surveillance and Monitoring
of the Public Health Burden
Adequate public health education not only requires informing public
and health care practitioners, but also adequate monitoring of the public
health burden. The development of adequate surveillance and monitoring
systems is important for informing policy makers, health care providers,
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