Sleep is good for your health

Did you know that sleep takes up a third of our lives? It is essential to our physical and mental health. Yet sleep disorders affect a significant proportion of the population. Their frequency has increased in recent decades, and perhaps even more so since the Covid-19 pandemic. Because sleep influences health and the risk of accidents, it is essential to understand what specifically determines the quality and duration of sleep. One of the aims of the Specchio study is to monitor the prevalence of sleep disorders in the Geneva population.

This June 2023, we therefore invite you to complete a questionnaire on sleep, whether you have good or poor sleep quality, and whatever your current state of health or lifestyle.

• A better description of sleep and alertness disorders

How common are sleep disorders in the general population? How and why is it changing? What is its impact in individual terms, but also in epidemiological terms, across the whole canton of Geneva? Thanks to your answers to the questionnaire, our teams will be able to carry out a number of scientific analyses based on reliable data that is representative of the population. This will enable us to gain a better understanding of the factors in our daily lives that have a decisive impact on sleep quality, such as the pace of our personal or professional lives, the influence of diet, physical activity or the use of new technologies.

These analyses and results will provide useful information in terms of public and individual health. Your personal experience of sleep, added to that of thousands of people like you who are taking part in our studies, will provide valuable information to improve knowledge and contribute to public policies on prevention and health promotion.

• A better understanding of the relationship between sleep and health

Since sleep is a vital function, it is logical that any disturbances or disorders should have potentially harmful repercussions on our physical and mental health. Sleep deprivation increases the risk of hypertension, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and even increases the risk of obesity.

Studies have also shown an association between sleep disorders and cognitive decline. We therefore need a better understanding of the mechanisms involved. This will enable us to determine more precisely how cognitive disorders are linked to sleep disorders, or whether it is the latter that ultimately promote cognitive decline. Similarly, epidemiological data also suggests a link between sleep and depression. However, do sleep disorders make people vulnerable to the risk of depression, or does depression influence sleep quality? Finally, epidemiological observations also show an increased risk of arterial hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia and cardiovascular events (stroke, coronary heart disease) in people with poor sleep quality.

Sleep is still far from having revealed all its secrets. So with your help, scientific research continues!