Sleep is fundamentally necessary for life, yet racial and ethnic groups are disproportionately affected by poor sleep health and sleep disorders. A growing body of research helps establish that sleep health disparities affecting racial and ethnic groups are a substantial public health problem. We must continue to work to identify and understand the causes, extent, and implications of unequally distributed sleep problems in America in order to intervene.
Shorter sleep duration and/or poor sleep quality are associated with adverse health outcomes, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, poor mental health, and obesity. Addressing impediments to sleep health equity can help improve the overall health and lives of historically marginalized Americans.
Foundations of Sleep Health™, the first book from the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), presents sleep as a critical element of overall individual and population health. This new book provides a historic and current perspective of the state of sleep with an emphasis on the interplay between several levels of determinants and factors that influence sleep health. The text discusses sleep health from a theoretical, research, and practice perspective, including evidence-based discussion of the social and contextual determinants of sleep and their biological and societal consequences. Read more about JPB Fellow Chandra Jackson’s book.