Symposium Focuses on Adequate Sleep

A recent 2-day sleep conference, sponsored by the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research (NCSDR), looked at ways to foster changes in attitudes and behavior in physicians and the general public about the need for adequate sleep. The NCSDR's goals are to increase recognition and treatment of sleep disorders, cut health care costs arising from untreated sleep disorders, and improve public health and quality of life, according to an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (May 26, 2004). Sleep experts suggested the following strategies:

• Doctors should ask all patients, "Are you satisfied with your sleep?"
• All health care providers should include sleep education in their practices
• Drowsy-driving prevention should be targeted at at-risk groups
• Sleep groups should partner with disease-focused organizations to communicate state-of- the-art sleep knowledge