World Sleep Day
There is increasing recognition that sleep is a critical component of human health. The statement is often made that diet, exercise and sleep are the three pillars of health with the dogma being that if one is ignored, the other two will suffer. Poor sleep leads to poor dietary habits and has been associated with increased risk of obesity as well as progressive weight gain over time.
Moreover, recent studies suggest that extending sleep duration in short sleepers can lead to reduced food intake and could eventually help to facilitate weight loss. When going on a diet with reduced calorie intake, individuals who are sleep deprived generally lose less fat than those who are getting adequate sleep. Adequate sleep can also improve exercise performance even in elite athletes.
Sleep disturbances including insomnia and sleep apnea are very common. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is estimated to affect 1 billion people worldwide, with this number increasing not decreasing over time despite progress in medications to treat obesity. Snoring is a common symptom in OSA and should prompt a medical evaluation if the problem is severe and/or persistent. Insomnia is estimated to affect more than 850 million people worldwide.
The minority of patients with important sleep disorders are currently diagnosed or treated, despite major recent advances in therapies. For OSA, CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) has strong data that the majority of patients do tolerate it well and its use is associated with improved overall health outcomes. Tirzepatide is an anti-obesity medication that has been recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treatment of moderate to severe sleep apnea in people with obesity. Raising awareness about the importance of sleep disorders is an important priority. If individuals are concerned, please consult your physician.
Atul Malhotra, MD is Vice Chair of Medicine for Research. He runs a large NIH funded laboratory with almost 1000 peer reviewed publications in the last 25 years. He is active clinically in the intensive care units and the in the sleep clinics.