Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 June 2022
927. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Health if he will request his Department and pertinent organisations within its remit to provide the Deputy with an up-to-date summary of the science, including clinical evidence, regarding the importance of sleep and of the range of acknowledged negative health impacts of prolonged sleep deprivation on human health. [34536/22]
View answerInternationally, there is a range of research reports and journals that outline the science, including clinical evidence, regarding the importance of sleep and of the range of acknowledged negative health impacts of prolonged sleep deprivation on human health.
From an Irish perspective, the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, which is co-funded by my Department, recently published a paper that highlights that sub-optimal sleep duration has been linked to adverse health outcomes, noting that previous studies have shown that both short and long sleep duration are risk factors for premature mortality, cardiovascular and chronic disease, and impairments in cognitive and mental health.
The paper ‘Objective sleep duration in older adults: Results from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing’ is published in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society (JAGS) and can be found here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jgs.16177
