A/Professor Darren Mansfield
Deputy Director of Monash Lung and Sleep department at Monash Health, Melbourne
Sleep is an essential biological function. As such it is unsurprising that when sleep becomes disordered that there are a raft of identifiable downstream consequences. The more immediate known consequences of sleep disturbance include direct impacts on quality of life, productivity, safety, cognition and mood disorders. Consequently, the 2019 Federal Government Parliamentary Inquiry into sleep health has advocated for sleep to be included as the third pillar of a healthy lifestyle, alongside diet and exercise. In addition to lifestyle effects sleep disturbance and sleep loss are shown to have direct effects on metabolism that have the potential to influence cardiovascular risk . The scale of the health impact must be considered in the context of the known high prevalence of sleep disorders and sleep loss among the Australian community. The significance of the health care and economic impacts on a public health scale are generally under-recognised.
Biography
A/Prof Darren Mansfield MBBS FRACP PhD is a sleep disorders and respiratory. He is the Deputy Director of Monash Lung and Sleep department at Monash Health in Melbourne, Director of the sleep unit at Monash Health and Director of The Epworth Sleep Centre since 2002, from which originated the Epworth Sleepiness scale. He has significant clinical, education and research interests in sleep disorders and community sleep health with focused interest in the effects of sleep on mental health. He is a board member of the Sleep Health Foundation. His PhD was based on the cardiac effects of obstructive sleep apnoea and has expanded his research interest in insomnia and circadian disorders