World Sleep Day blog by our Sleep Researcher, Sophie Faulkner | R&I News

World Sleep Day blog by our Sleep Researcher, Sophie Faulkner

 

Today is World Sleep Day.  My name is Sophie Faulkner and I’m a Sleep Researcher, so I spend a lot of time telling people how sleep is important, and I mean - it really is, the science is very clear; we need sleep to help us function both physically and mentally. 1 2

Recently, it seems like there’s been a bit of a revolution in sleep awareness, it’s in the media so much more, I’m not sure how many people are left still genuinely believing sleep is not important.  People are recognising the links between good sleep and better decision making,3 healthier weight,4 and better recovery from illness. 5

Having said this, I’m going to assume you already think sleep is important.  The next challenge is to know what we, as mental health professionals, can do about it.  Sleep is not covered that extensively on most of our pre-registration training, and it’s quite complex, it can go wrong in a myriad of ways, and it interacts with everything: medications, habits and routines, the environment, mood, worry...  Surveys suggest mental health professionals are not that confident in addressing sleep with their patients and service users, and that although we know sleep is a common problem, we have some blind spots, and we don’t make as systematic an assessment as we could do. 6 7 8

What are researchers doing about it? My team have recently had a knowledge mobilisation project funded to help address this: “Improving awareness and knowledge to support detection and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in people with serious mental illness.” The project is funded by the Closing the Gap Network’s Impact Accelerator Knowledge Mobilisation Fund

We will be running a series of bespoke sleep and mental health training events, starting in August 2022.  You can expect globally recognised speakers and carefully chosen local experts, giving clinically focused and concise presentations, inter-service discussions and knowledge sharing.  These events will be focused on knowledge you can use, which we think will change your practice.  It will be free, and open to all.  We will just be asking for people to complete the post training follow-up so that we can measure its impact, to help to inform us about what needs to happen next to improve treatment of sleep in people with mental health conditions.

Enter your email here to be sent information and dates for the events, and tell your friends and colleagues!  https://forms.office.com/r/uVgW7M4pC0

 

 

References:

[1] Chaput JP, Dutil C, Featherstone R, Ross R, Giangregorio L, Saunders TJ, et al. Sleep duration and health in adults: an overview of systematic reviews. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2020;45(10):S218–31.

[2] Medic G, Wille M, Hemels MEH. Short- and long-term health consequences of sleep disruption. Nat Sci Sleep. 2017;9:151–61.

[3] Lo JC, Groeger J a, Santhi N, Arbon EL, Lazar AS, Hasan S, et al. Effects of partial and acute total sleep deprivation on performance across cognitive domains, individuals and circadian phase. PLoS One [Internet]. 2012 Jan [cited 2014 Nov 4];7(9):e45987. Available from: http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=3454374&tool=pmcentrez&rendertype=abstract

[4] Ogilvie RP, Patel SR. The epidemiology of sleep and obesity. Sleep Heal. 2017;3(5):383–8.

[5] Tamrat R, Huynh-Le MP, Goyal M. Non-pharmacologic interventions to improve the sleep of hospitalized patients: A systematic review. J Gen Intern Med. 2014;29(5):788–95.

[6] Rehman A, Waite F, Sheaves B, Biello S, Freeman D, Gumley A. Clinician perceptions of sleep problems, and their treatment, in patients with non-affective psychosis. Psychosis. 2017;9(2):129–39.

[7] O’Sullivan M, Rahim M, Hall C. The prevalence and management of poor sleep quality in a secondary care mental health population. J Clin Sleep Med. 2015;11(2):111–6.

[8] Barrett EA, Aminoff SR, Simonsen C, Romm KL. Opening the curtains for better sleep in psychotic disorders - considerations for improving sleep treatment. Compr Psychiatry. 2020;103.

As a patient

As a service user, relative or carer using our services, sometimes you may need to turn to someone for help, advice, and support. 

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