World Sleep Society invites you to join participants from over 72 countries around the world in a global call to action about the importance of sleep. Friday, March 17, 2017 is the 10th annual World Sleep Day®. Created and hosted by World Sleep Society, World Sleep Day is an internationally recognized awareness event bringing researchers, health professionals and patients together for one important common cause: Sleep.
In 2017, the slogan is, Sleep Soundly, Nurture Life. This focus is purposefully broad in meaning, surrounding the message that quality of life with a sleep disorder can be improved. Though most sleep disorders are preventable or treatable, less than one-third of sufferers seek professional help. The three elements of good quality sleep are duration (the length of sleep), continuity (sleeping without fragmentation) and depth (meaning sleep is deep enough to be restorative.
Arianna Huffington of Thrive Global (author of The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time) states, “Science has proven that sleep is the ultimate performance enhancer. So it’s clear that if we’re going to truly thrive, we must begin with sleep.”
Delegates from around the world have already planned an awareness event. Activities are added to worldsleepday.org as they are submitted. Social media updates are scheduled to share the global events taking place on March 17 under the hashtag #WorldSleepDay.
CALL TO ACTION
If you are a patient living with a sleep disorder, World Sleep Society has developed ten recommendations on how to obtain restorative sleep. To participate in World Sleep Day, consider:
Organizing an event to create excitement and generate interest in World Sleep Day.
Circulating the official press release with sleep experts and local media.
Distributing sleep patient literature such as booklets, leaflets and newsletters.
Spreading the word on social media about #WorldSleepDay
More ideas are available on worldsleepday.org/get-involved/plan.
SLEEP’S IMPORTANT IMPACT
Sleep is a basic human need — a crucial component of survival, much like breathing, eating a healthy diet or getting enough exercise. World Sleep Day is designed to raise awareness of sleep as a human privilege that is often compromised by the habits of modern life. Sleep impacts nearly every aspect of mental and physical health. Research suggests:
• Sound sleep is one of the three pillars of good health along with a balanced diet and regular exercise.
• There are close to 100 disorders of sleep, but most are modifiable and manageable with the help of sleep specialists.
• Studies have shown that people with insomnia suffer from more symptoms of anxiety and depression than people without insomnia.
• Effects of insufficient sleep favoring outcomes such as increased appetite and enhanced sensitivity to food stimuli.
• Next day effects of poor quality sleep include a negative impact on our attention span, memory recall and learning.
• Studies suggest that sleep quality rather than quantity has a greater impact on quality of life and daytime functioning.
• Short sleep duration appears independently associated with weight gain, particularly in young age groups.
• Longer term effects are being studied, but poor quality sleep or sleep deprivation has been associated with significant health problems, such as obesity, diabetes, weakened immune systems and even some cancers.
More statistics, details and references on sleep are available within the World Sleep Day Toolkit.
Sleep soundly and nurture life.
World Sleep Day is an annual awareness event hosted by World Sleep Society.
Originally published at medium.com