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  2. Dying for a kip:the...
  3. Dying for a kip:the importance of sleep medicine
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Dying for a kip:the importance of sleep medicine

BMJ 2005; 330 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/sbmj.0503106 (Published 01 March 2005) Cite this as: BMJ 2005;330:0503106
  1. Andy Currie, second year graduate student1,
  2. Ed Peile, head of division of medical education and associate dean (teaching)1,
  3. Chris Hanning, consultant in sleep disorders medicine2
  1. 1Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry
  2. 2Leicester General Hospital, Leicester

Medical students get about two minutes teaching on it, and there are only a handful of dedicated consultants. Its time we woke up to the merits of sleep medicine say Andy Currie, Ed Peile, and Chris Hanning

Sleep takes up one third of our lives and yet is one of the most poorly understood areas of human physiology. Animals starved of sleep are known to die in a few weeks,1 and people are no different. Falling asleep at the wheel of a car kills more people on the roads than any other cause, and sleep deprivation has been blamed for many public health emergencies, including the Challenger shuttle disaster and Chernobyl. Problems sleeping is one of the commonest reasons a patient will present to their doctor2 and yet sleep medicine receives hardly any coverage in the undergraduate curriculum.

MAURO FERMARIELLO/SPL

UK situation

Sleep medicine in the United Kingdom is currently the preserve of a small number of interested clinicians, mainly with backgrounds in respiratory medicine, anaesthetics, or neurology (box 1). There is no formal training structure or official governing body. The British Sleep Society (www.sleeping.org.uk) has an active membership of clinicians, scientists, and healthcare workers and acts to promote awareness of sleep. In contrast, the USA has a very well circumscribed, well respected training system and it is possible to board in sleep medicine--the equivalent of gaining your CCST in the United Kingdom.3

Box 1: Specialties with links to sleep medicine (not exhaustive)

  • Respiratory medicine

  • Neurology

  • Anaesthetics

  • ENT surgery

  • Cardiology

  • Paediatrics

  • Psychiatry

  • General practice

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How common are serious sleep problems?

Sleep medicine is not confined to rare respiratory or neurological conditions. Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is an extremely common condition with 1-2% of middle aged men suffering--about the same number that have insulin-dependent diabetes.4 OSA is not just important to those interested …

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