Sleep Deprivation: Societal Impact and Long-Term Consequences

Abstract

There have been many studies investigating the effects of sleep deprivation, and, especially recently, there has been increasing attention to the societal cost of sleep loss. In the laboratory, sleep deprivation/restriction is associated with impaired neurobehavioral performance and cardiometabolic functioning. In the general population, short sleep duration and/or perceived insufficient sleep is associated with functional impairments and cardiometabolic disease, as well as mortality risk. Although the mechanisms of these relationships are not yet fully understood, several pathways are being examined. The societal implications of short sleep are currently being studied as well. There are many social and environmental determinants of poor sleep, insufficient sleep, and/or short sleep duration, including race/ethnicity, socioeconomics, work and home demands, the physical environment, and other factors. Conceptualizing sleep as a domain of healthy behavior (alongside diet and physical activity), rather than simply a physiologic process or aspect of health that may be disordered, affords sleep researchers many new opportunities and contexts for the study of sleep and its impact on health.