Sleep Deprivation: Habits, Solutions, and Strategies Teach-Out

Want to learn more? A highly popular course at the University of Michigan, organized for many years by the renowned sleep scientists Drs. Ralph Lydic and Helen Baghdoyan, was turned into a MOOC (massive open online course). This course, entitled Sleep: Neurology, Medicine, and Society, includes about 14 hours of content, and provides considerably more depth than was possible in this Teach-Out about sleep physiology: how the brain creates and maintains sleep, and how other organs function differently during sleep. A series of talks cover the major types of sleep disorders, from obstructive sleep apnea to narcolepsy, insomnia, and parasomnias. Finally, you can also learn more about ways in which sleep problems pose important challenges at the societal level. This course is free, and registration will begin next week.

Sites of Interest

Many sources of reliable information about sleep, sleep deprivation, and sleep disorders exist on the internet. The following are just a sampling that may be of interest:

The University of Michigan Sleep Disorders Center website provides information about clinical, educational, and research programs and opportunities, including a listing of recent news releases.

The University of Michigan Center for Sleep Science offers links to the websites for more than 50 faculty with interests in sleep and circadian science.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine maintains a website for public education about sleep disorders.

The Sleep Research Society provides a series of video interviews called “Conversations with our Founders” in which pioneers in the field of sleep research recount some of the rich history of the field.

The National Sleep Foundation, which works to improve health and well-being through sleep education and advocacy, conducts a national sleep poll every year, and most recently on sleep deprivation.

The National Center on Sleep Disorders Research has led efforts for 20 years now by the National Institutes of Health to advance knowledge in sleep medicine. Led by Dr. Michael Twery, the NCSDR provides vital guidance and support for the field, as well as useful information for both sleep researchers and the public.

The International Pediatric Sleep Association fosters education and research on childhood sleep disorders, and is preparing for its next meeting in Paris, France.

On the website for the World Sleep Society, you can click on the “menu” bar at the top of the page to see a wealth of information about sleep research and education activities around the globe.

The National Safety Council website has outstanding content -- informative facts and advice, yet easy to understand -- about sleep deprivation and its impact on the road, at work, and in other settings. The site has a fatigue cost calculator that allows you to estimate what is the dollar cost of fatigue to your business, and how much could be saved by programs that can be implemented in the workplace.

You may find this book review from the New Yorker, and perhaps this new book itself, of interest. The review touches on many of the topics of the Teach-Out, and the book itself is written by a widely respected sleep medicine physician.

For more information on Dr. Judith Owen's conversation about school start times, visit http://www.startschoollater.net/.

Suggested Reading From Dr. Christopher M. Barnes

We hope you enjoyed Dr. Goldstein’s interview with Dr. Barnes, an Associate Professor of Management and Evert McCabe Endowed Fellow at Foster School of Business, University of Washington. Dr. Barnes and his colleagues are leading researchers on the impact in business settings of sleep deprivation on behavior and decisions. For more information, see the following references. To get you started with a report that looks interesting, some abstracts are available if you copy and paste the article title, or the journal, volume, and pages, at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?otool=umichlib .

Guarana, C. L, & Barnes, C. M. (2017). Lack of sleep and the development of leader-follower relationships over time. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 141, 57-73.

Cho, K., Barnes, C. M., & Guarana, C. (2017). Sleepy punishers are harsh punishers: Daylight saving time and legal sentences. Psychological Science, 28, 242-247.

Barnes, C. M., Miller, J., & Bostock, S. (2017). Helping employees sleep well: Effects of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia on work outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102, 104-113.

Barnes, C. M., Guarana, C. L., Nauman, S., & Kong, D. T. (2016). Too tired to inspire or be inspired: Sleep deprivation and charismatic leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101, 1191-1199.

Barnes, C. M., Jiang, K., & Lepak, D. (2016). Sabotaging the benefits of our own human capital: Work unit characteristics and sleep. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101, 209-221.

Barnes, C. M. & Drake, C. L. (2015). Prioritizing sleep health: Public health policy recommendations. Perspectives in Psychological Science, 10, 733-737.

Barnes, C. M., Lucianetti, L., Bhave, D., & Christian, M. (2015). You wouldn’t like me when I’m sleepy: Leader sleep, daily abusive supervision, and work unit engagement. Academy of Management Journal, 58, 1419-1437.

Gunia, B., Barnes, C. M., & Sah, S. (2014). The morality of larks and owls: Unethical behavior depends on chronotype as well as time-of-day. Psychological Science, 25, 2272-2274.

Lanaj, K., Johnson, R., & Barnes, C. M. (2014). Beginning the workday yet already depleted? Consequences of late-night smartphone use and sleep. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 124, 11-23. doi: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2014.01.001

Barnes, C. M., Ghumman, S, & Scott, B. A. (2013). Sleep and organizational citizenship behavior: The mediating role of job satisfaction. Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 18, 16-26. doi: 10.1037/a0030349

Wagner, D. T., Barnes, C. M., Lim, V., & Ferris, D. L. (2012). Lost sleep and cyberloafing: Evidence from the laboratory and a Daylight Saving Time quasi-experiment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97, 1068-1076. doi: 10.1037/a0027557

Barnes, C. M., Schaubroeck, J. M., Huth, M., & Ghumman, S. (2011). Lack of sleep and unethical behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. 115, 169-180. doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2011.01.009

Barnes, C. M. & Wagner, D. T. (2009). Changing to daylight saving time cuts into sleep and increases workplace injuries. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94, 1305-1317. doi: 10.1037/a0015320

Support Research on Sleep, Sleep Deprivation, and Sleep Disorders

This Teach-Out has given you an introduction to the immense but often underappreciated importance of good night’s sleep. Unfortunately, many fundamental questions remain without answers, when it comes to understanding problems people have with their sleep, and how to assist them. You can help. Consider supporting a “sleep team” that is working hard to find these answers. Some excellent choices are listed below.

Sleep Research at the University of Michigan: Investigators at Michigan Medicine, one of the oldest and largest academic sleep programs in the US, have made important contributions to what we know today about sleepiness, insomnia, sleep apnea, how to identify people with sleep disorders, and how to treat them. Highly productive research underway at present, for example, includes studies of connections between sleep problems and stroke, multiple sclerosis, critical illness in newborns, hyperactive behavior in children, and complications of pregnancy.

American Sleep Medicine Foundation: A foundation of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, the ASMF supports sleep research that will advance patient care, the careers of sleep researchers, education about sleep illnesses, and humanitarian projects related to sleep health.

Sleep Research Society Foundation: A foundation of the Sleep Research Society, the SRSF supports research on sleep and circadian rhythms at all stages, from basic laboratory research to translational and clinical research, all with the ultimate aim of understanding underlying biology, what goes wrong in sleep diseases, and what may be the best solutions.

Additional MOOCs of Interest

In addition to Sleep: Neurology, Medicine, and Society, the following MOOCs may be of interest:

The Science of Success: What Researchers Know that You Should Know

Mindware: Critical Thinking for the Information Age

To learn more about upcoming Teach-Outs, please visit teachout.org.