Introduction to Sleep Epidemiology

EPI 532 Subject & Catalog Number

Description

Sleep is fundamental to health and well-being and is influenced by health-related behaviors, the social and physical environments, genetics, and health conditions. Disturbed and/or insufficient sleep can increase risk for behavioral morbidities, mood disturbances, poor quality of life, accidents, cognitive decline, chronic cardiometabolic diseases, and cancer. Sleep is increasingly recognized as a “fourth pillar of health” (along with diet, physical activity, and stress) in the sleep medicine community but the public health importance of sleep is less recognized despite increasing data indicating that sleep is strongly socially patterned—by socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, immigrant status, stage of the life course, work experiences, stress, and neighborhood contexts- and a driver of health disparities.

This course will provide an introduction to sleep epidemiology with an aim of preparing you to better understand the growing literature addressing sleep health as drivers for health differences across populations, and provide you with the knowledge and tools to begin to integrate sleep measurements in your research studies and identify opportunities to inform public policy on approaches for promoting sleep health on a community-level. Topics include overviews of the basic science and clinical aspects of sleep and sleep disorders; social and environmental risk factors influencing sleep health; variation of sleep health across the lifespan and across populations; the influences of sleep on quality of life, mood, and chronic health conditions; and individual and community-wide interventions for improving sleep health.