Sleep and Health Across the Lifespan: An Epidemiological Perspective

Sleep difficulties are an unmet public health problem, affecting large segments of the population around the world. This webinar provides an overview of the role of sleep in wellbeing and chronic disease risk across the lifespan, including some methodological issues in sleep epidemiology research. Findings on sleep health among 30,097 middle-aged and older adults using baseline data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) will be presented. The presenters discuss the cross-sectional associations between poor sleep and multiple chronic diseases (multimorbidity), and mental health and wellbeing, as well as findings on the social determinants of sleep health in the CLSA.

Dr. Saverio Stranges is professor and chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University and is cross-appointed with the Department of Family Medicine. Dr. Stranges is also a Scientific Advisor in the Department of Population Health at the Luxembourg Institute of Health, in Luxembourg. Dr. Stranges’ research focuses on the epidemiology and prevention of chronic disease and aging, specifically regarding the role of lifestyles, nutritional and psychosocial factors, such as dietary patterns, sleep behaviors and social factors in cardiovascular health.

Rebecca Rodrigues is a project coordinator in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics in the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University. She focuses on research related to sleep health, mental health, and the social determinants of health.