Innovatia

Why is sleep so important to Australia’s national interests and its “socio-economic scorecard” – for example, in terms of pro- ductivity, domestic violence, road toll, pov- erty, mental health, and so on? A nation’s collective sleep hygiene is key to this scorecard. Sleep deprivation is tied to work absenteeism, presenteeism – which just means you’re at work but not working to your full potential – and workplace and roadway accidents and deaths. Sleep deprivation can also negatively impact our moods, which can in turn affect our relationships, and there’s long-term implications for mental health, too. A 2008 Sleep Medicine Reviews study found

Lack of sleep also affects how we eat. If you are sleep deprived and lack energy, your body will likely seek more foods high in car- bohydrates and/or fat to make up for the en- ergy it didn’t wake up with. What’s worse is sleep deprivation could lead to overeating. A 2013 study published in Psychoneuroendo- crinology found sleep-deprived people wake up with greater feelings of hunger and high- er plasma ghrelin levels, which are linked to overeating. So not only does good sleep re- store our bodily functions and refill our en- ergy tanks for the day ahead, it also enables us to best tend to the other important pillars that help sustain our overall health.

RESMED’S QUEST FOR IMPROVED SLEEP ResMed founder and chairman Dr Peter Farrell AM depicts the 40-year evolution of sleep apnea treatment, what’s next and how well Australians sleep

compared to the rest of the world. S leep is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle, but are Australians really aware and appreciative of the value of a good diet and physical exercise? Compared to the rest of the world, I think Australians probably have a higher-than-av- erage awareness of sleep and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) thanks to the far-reaching research that’s been conducted and promot- ed nationwide, celebration of Colin Sullivan, University of Sydney professor, who invented the nasal continuous positive airway pres- sure (PAP) machine in the early 1980s, and high visibility of ResMed, world leader in connected solutions for treating sleep apnea and an ASX15 company. However, in terms of where awareness should be, it’s still too low for Australians as it is everywhere else. Ac- cording to Lancet Respiratory Medicine, over 936 million people worldwide have sleep ap- nea – including over 2.9 million Australians. Over 80 per cent are undiagnosed. We know that leaving sleep apnea untreated – the

nightly toll these cyclical suffocations have on our body that should be resting – puts us at 2 to 3 times higher risk for heart attacks or strokes, impacts our daily energy, mood, safety while driving or at work, long-term mental health, and so on. Our sleep health is very much tied to every facet of our overall health and wellbeing. What is the relationship between sleep and the other two other pillars of public health? Has this been studied and reported on? The links between sleep and the other two pillars – nutrition and physical exercise – are very strong. Simply put: You can’t optimise your healthy eating or your exercise goals without a good night’s sleep. If you don’t get enough sleep each night – common rec- ommendations are 7 to 9 hours nightly for adults – you may lack the energy required to exercise as much as you’d like to the next day, as well as focus on work and other im- portant tasks.

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INNOVATIA

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