Sleepless in America, a television program on the current epidemic of sleep deprivation, will air on the National Geographic Channel on Sunday, November 30, at 8 p.m. EST. A wide range of illnesses and accidents—crashes involving drowsy drivers are an obvious example—stem from too little sleep, a problem that has many causes, including today’s 24-hour society. Two-thirds of American men and nearly half of American women wish they slept more.
Sleepless in America features several Harvard researchers, including clinical professor of medicine David P. White, director of the Clinical Sleep Disorders Program, assistant professor of medicine David Wellman, and Baldino professor of sleep medicine Charles Czeisler, director of the division of sleep medicine, based at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. A trailer of the show suggests some of its areas of interest.
“Deep into Sleep,” which appeared in Harvard Magazine in 2005, featured several of Harvard’s prominent scholars in sleep medicine.