Sleep Health: A Necessary and Critical Component to Achieving Whole Health

Amir Inditzky, CEO & Co-Founder at dayzz

Constance Sjoquist, Healthcare Analyst 

Historically, the US health industry has focused primarily on the physical attributes and conditions that define good - or poor - health. The basic doctor visit consisted of a physician peering into eyes and ears, poking away at joints and limbs, and listening to breaths and sighs. Labs tested blood, machines scanned organs, and scribes recorded height and weight. The body was under review while the rest - and there is more - took a back seat to receiving care.

More recently, with passage of mental health parity and addiction equity acts in the late 1900s and early 2000s, the health industry widened their scope when assessing and treating people. It was successfully argued that patients with behavioral issues deserve equal attention and equal coverage to those with physical issues.

And very recently, the industry has added the “social” determinants of health (SDOH) to what ails us. These include access to quality care, air and nutrition, economic and educational inequities, and other stigmas that impede good health. But is this scope of health wide enough?

Does canvassing physical functions, assessing mental behaviors, and identifying social determinants capture the entire health condition? What about when the body is fit, the mind is sound, and the resources are available, yet still good health eludes?

Anyone who suffers from a sleep disorder can tell you that lack of sleep - or poor sleep quality - is a lurking monster wreaking havoc on a person’s overall health. Not only do those suffering from sleep disorders lose precious and necessary health restoration that is meant to take place approximately one third of every 24 hours, they also experience increased health risks and decreased performance issues as a consequence of inadequate sleep health.

It is estimated that 50 to 70 million people in the US suffer from one or more sleep disorders.

There is a strong correlation between physical, mental and social health, and sleep health.

Stats tell us that poor sleep health affects physical, mental and social well-being - essentially our whole health. Consider these findings on the impacts of poor sleep:

A study involving patients with 11 different diseases including sleep apnea, psychiatric disorders, neuropathic pain, diabetes, obesity, and rheumatoid arthritis found that 52% of the diseases have some morbidity that is attributable to insomnia, which is responsible for 9.8% of all accidents in the US. As sleepy workers are 70% more likely to be involved in accidents than non-sleepy workers, it is not surprising that 100,000 deaths occur each year in US hospitals due to medical errors and sleep deprivation.

A longitudinal study of ~1,000 adults ages 21 to 30 enrolled in a Michigan health maintenance organization found that, compared with normal sleepers, those who reported a history of insomnia during an interview in 1989 were four times as likely to develop major depression by the time of a second interview three years later. In a study of nearly 19,000 people, those with obstructive sleep apnea were five times as likely to suffer from clinical depression.

The results of a 2018 study indicated that a lack of sleep leads individuals to become more socially avoidant, keeping greater social distance from others. The study also found that people who come in contact with a sleep-deprived individual, even through a brief one-minute interaction, feel lonelier themselves as a result, indicating viral contagion of social isolation caused by sleep loss.

 For too long, achieving sleep health has been considered a luxury, rather than a clinical imperative.

Over 60% of adults have never had a physician ask about their sleep quality and more than 80% have never initiated such a discussion.

Doctor’s orders to drink a glass of warm milk, count sheep or take sleeping tablets before bedtime are not sufficiently addressing patient’ needs. What’s needed is a new understanding of the role of sleep health in relation to physical, mental and social health, and a new model established through clinical science and evidence-based outcomes that recognizes sleep health as critical - and arguably central - to achieving whole health.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines “whole health” as the physical, mental and social well-being of an individual, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Sleep Health is central to achieving whole health as it impacts the body, the mind and the personal interactions.

So, what exactly is “Sleep Health”?

If we define physical health as a body free of pain and disease, mental health as a mind free of stress and psychiatric disorders, and social health as having access to essential resources and supportive relationships, then we can define sleep health as … what exactly … free of a bad night’s (or day’s) sleep? And how can we tell if it’s bad if it occurs while asleep?

The reality is that the status of our physical, mental and social health inform us of the condition of our sleep health. The impacts of poor sleep health are revealed in a body too fatigued to function, a mind too foggy to think clearly, and an inability to successfully leverage essential resources and maintain meaningful relationships. Poor sleep manifests in fatigue, inattentiveness, and a sense of desperation and isolation.

Fortunately, for those suffering from poor sleep health, the science behind sleep is catching up to the science behind physical, behavioral, and social health. Through clinical sleep studies, screening and surveys, and the application of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), sleep experts can accurately detect and diagnose poor sleep health. And once diagnosed, the path to achieving good sleep health is possible.

On the leading edge of sleep health science is dayzz, a company of scientists, tech-savvies, and therapists who’ve developed an arsenal of high-quality, effective sleep solutions that can be integrated into personalized sleep training programs.         

dayzz’ clinically-validated sleep assessment questionnaire is based on scientific protocols and uses a proprietary algorithm that analyzes each individual’s lifestyle and sleep habits. It then tailors an optimal sleep training plan that is augmented by human sleep trainers and provides users with a complete and personalized sleep management program - one with constant guidance and care to improve their sleep health.

Employers have a duty in ensuring the health and well-being of their employees; by doing so, not only employees benefit, but employers can expect to reduce costs incurred as a results of healthcare utilization. The dayzz sleep program is offered to organizations to provide their members with personalized sleep plans and help them live happier, safer and more productive lives. Employers and payers receive periodic overview reports presenting aggregated data about their members’ sleep status to help them better understand how to further improve employee experience and performance.

Dayzz recognizes the importance of sleep and its impact on our health especially during the COVID-19 outbreak, and offers it’s sleep program to organizations at no cost during this time.

Good sleep health - it’s no longer just a dream!

For more information regarding dayzz’ sleep health program for employees visit dayzz.com or contact [email protected].

This information is one in a series of publications that expose how good sleep health is critical to whole health and how it can be achieved. List future topics include employers, chronic conditions, economic impacts and more.