Chronobiology and the case for sleep health interventions in the community

Abstract

Our sleep-wake cycle is determined by the interaction between our homeostatic sleep drive and circadian rhythm. Each of us has a personalised biological rhythm or chronotype that determines the optimal time to fall asleep and wake up. Chronic sleep deprivation has been linked to the development of several physical and mental health disorders, as well as accidents and occupational errors. Around the world, growing recognition of the importance of sleep has led to the adoption of practices that promote sleep health. Given that Singaporeans were consistently found to be one of the most sleep-deprived populations in the world, we believe that there is an urgent need to pursue the introduction of community-based sleep health interventions here. This includes sleep education and promotion of sleep hygiene, adopting practices to reduce social jetlag and improve sleep health, and enhancing screening and treatment of sleep disorders.

Effects of Chronotype and Social Jet-Lag on Neurocognitive Functioning

“…Eveningness chronotypes report poor sleep quality and daytime fatigue more frequently than morning chronotypes. It was reported that individuals with the eveningness chronotype have more psychological and psychosomatic disorders (Ong et al 2021). Also, phonetablet use, smoking, caffeine and alcohol consumption, both as a result of SJL and as a risk factor that worsens SJL, appear as a very important danger in eveningness chronotypes (Lang et al 2018, Isabelle-Nolet et al 2019.…”

“…It is already known that individuals with extreme morningness and eveningness chronotypes are faced with many physical and mental dangers because of accumulated sleep debt, short total sleep time, and insufficient sleep efficiency (Selvi et al 2012). SJL, which occurs in extreme chronotypes, especially in extreme eveningness, because of the discord between social and circadian clocks, deteriorates these dangers even more (Ong et al 2021, Fárková et al 2021, Al-Khatib et al 2022. Recent studies report that SJL and chronotype have many negative impacts on cognitive functions (Salfi et al 2020, Venkat et al 2020.…”

SleepCon: Sleeping Posture Recognition Model using Convolutional Neural Network

“…Sleeping positions have been proven to affect the symptoms of numerous diseases and have a vital role in systemic physiology, including metabolism and immunological, hormonal, and cardiovascular system functioning [5]. For example, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, obesity, and cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases have all been associated with chronic sleep deprivation [6]. Recent research has shown that in-bed positions have a significant impact on the prevalence of sleep disturbances such as apnea [7], even carpal tunnel syndrome [8], and pressure ulcers [9].…”