ABSTRACT
Disturbed sleep is associated with a wide range of chronic disorders including metabolic, cardiovascular, inflammatory, mood, and cancer diagnoses. While the etiology of many chronic diseases is multifactorial, there is compelling evidence that both shortened sleep and poor-quality sleep are significant contributory factors. Ample evidence shows short sleep duration adversely affects appetite and metabolism. One predominant effect of short sleep duration is an associated increase in appetite and food seeking behavior. A potential mechanism for shortened sleep may be the adverse effect of low daytime light levels’ impact on metabolism. There are several different physiologic frameworks from which to study and understand sleep; however, the disciple of circadian biology provides an evidence base for optimizing sleep that is particularly well suited to lifestyle medicine. The relationship between cardiovascular disease and poor sleep is best understood as it relates to hypertension and coronary artery disease.
