Announcement: Sleep Awareness Week — March 6–12, 2016

Weekly / March 4, 2016 / 65(8);217

Sleep Awareness Week, the National Sleep Foundation’s annual campaign to educate the public about the importance of sleep in health and safety, will be observed March 6–12, 2016. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society recommend that adults aged 18–60 years sleep ≥7 hours each night to promote optimal health and well-being (1). However, 35% of U.S. adults report typically sleeping <7 hours (2). Adults who do not get enough sleep on a regular basis are more likely to suffer from chronic conditions, such as obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, and poor mental health (1).

Developing good sleep habits, such as going to bed at the same time each night and rising at the same time each morning; ensuring that the bedroom environment is quiet, dark, relaxing, and neither too warm nor too cool; turning off or removing distracting or light-emitting electronic devices from the bedroom; and avoiding large meals, nicotine, alcohol, and caffeine before bedtime, is an important first step toward improving one’s sleep. Persons who have trouble sleeping in spite of good sleep habits, are excessively sleepy during the day, or who have symptoms of sleep disorders, such as snoring, should discuss these issues with their physician. General information about sleep and sleep disorders is available from CDC (http://www.cdc.gov/sleep).

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References

Watson NF, Badr MS, Belenky G, et al. ; Consensus Conference Panel. Joint consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society on the recommended amount of sleep for a healthy adult: methodology and discussion. Sleep 2015;38:1161–83. PubMed
Liu Y, Wheaton AG, Chapman DP, Cunningham TJ, Lu H, Croft JB. Prevalence of healthy sleep duration among adults—United States, 2014. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2016;65:137–41.CrossRef PubMed

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Suggested citation for this article: Announcement. Sleep Awareness Week — March 6–12, 2016. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2016;65:217. DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm6508a5 .