Session Schedule

Find a specific presentation in the session by navigating to the timestamp indicated below.

0:00:00
Introduction: Goals and Methods; 2) Summary and Next Steps
Judith Owens (United States)

0:24:30
Sleep and Mental/Behavioral Health
Magda LaHorgue Nunes (Brazil)

0:41:10
Accidental Injuries and Immune Function and Infection
Saadoun Bin Hasan (Kuwait)

0:57:35
Sleep and Cognition/Learning and Academic Achievement
Karen Spruyt (France)

1:15:15
Sleep and Obesity, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Function
Chris Xie Chen (Hong Kong)

1:31:03
Question and answer

Summary

Healthy sleep is essential for all aspects of health and wellbeing and as such should be promoted as an essential pillar of health, equivalent in status and attention to that of nutrition and physical activity. Yet in many regions around the world, there exist marked differences in awareness of and consequent substantial disparities in sleep health, particularly in developing and resource-poor countries. In order to improve global sleep health, in 2021, an Global Sleep Task Force of the World Sleep Society (WSS) was formed in order to establish a collaboration with the World Health Organization and to promote sleep health in adults as a key component of general health. This was envisioned as a first step in working with WHO to identify target areas and populations in order to develop strategies to increase the visibility of sleep health in general on the global public health stage. The resultant summary paper published in the Lancet1 emphasized a focus on education and awareness, research, and targeted public health policies.
In 2022, a subsequent global sleep and health task force, the "Global Adolescent Sleep Project ("GASP"), was formed at the request of the World Sleep Society to specifically address what was deemed to be a critical population for further assessment and development of recommendations. Seven topic-focused task forces were established based on the specific health outcomes identified by the WSS adult sleep task force, by WHO and by the group as those with the highest priority with regards to adolescent health. These included: 1) Obesity, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Function; 2) Mental and Behavioral Well-Being and Health; 3) Cognition/Learning and Academic Achievement; 4) Immune Function and Infection; 5) Accidental Injuries: Traffic Crashes and Occupational Injuries; and 6) Traumatic Childhood Experiences and 7) Substance/Alcohol Abuse and Delinquency. The entire group consisted of 20 members comprised of sleep experts from around the globe, two Co-Chairs and a WSS representative; particular attention was paid to ensure that all of the WHO regions were represented across the group.
This symposium will present the overarching goals of and the process and methodology used by the GASP task forces for review of the literature and extraction of data in order to create a summary statement of overall findings, research and public policy gaps, recommendations, and future directions. Individual task force summaries will be presented by a member of that working group,and opportunity will be provided for discussion with the panel and attendees.
1Lim DC, Najafi A, Afifi L, Bassetti C, Buysse DJ, Han F, Högl B, Melaku YA, Morin CM, Pack AI, Poyares D, Somers VK, Eastwood PR, Zee PC, Jackson CL; World Sleep Society Global Sleep Health Taskforce. The need to promote sleep health in public health agendas across the globe. Lancet Public Health. 2023 Oct;8(10):e820-e826. doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(23)00182-2. PMID: 37777291; PMCID: PMC10664020.