Let’s Talk About Sleep!

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Nutrition and wellness educators talk a lot about eating right and staying active, but we can’t forget about the importance of sleep. Inadequate sleep is linked to obesity, type 2 diabetes, elevated blood sugar, high blood pressure, heart disease, mental distress, and even early death.

Here are some ways to incorporate some sleep education into your work:

1. Raise awareness about the importance of sleep by creating a bulletin board display that centers around our Sleep Right poster.
   • In addition to listing the benefits of sleep, this poster explains how nutrition and exercise can impact sleep, and gives hours of sleep recommendations by age group.
2. Assign your students or clients (or yourself!) some homework:
   • Read the popular book, Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, PhD.
   • Watch Matthew Walker’s TED Talk – Sleep is Your Superpower.
3. Invite a sleep expert to talk to your weight management group or other audiences. An expert can provide valuable information about sleep disorders such as sleep apnea.
   • Obesity can cause sleep apnea and a healthy lifestyle can help prevent it.

Remember to get those important ZZZs yourself!

Hollis Bass, MEd, RD, LD