A Call to Action: Challenges and Future Directions for Sleep Health in Europe

AI Summary

Sleep is increasingly threatened by environmental, social, technological and cultural pressures, jeopardising population health and wellbeing.
Structural inequities limit access to sleep medicine and care, disproportionately affecting vulnerable groups and exacerbating health inequalities.
PESTEL-based recommendations call for equity-focused policy, regulated digital health, improved sleep literacy and strengthened organisational conditions to prioritise healthy sleep.

TL;DR (AI Generated)

To identify key priorities for improving sleep health across Europe, the European Sleep Research Society (ESRS)'s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee (EDIC) and Early Career Network (ECN) convened a joint taskforce to review current challenges and develop strategic recommendations.

Through a scoping review of the literature, iterative consensus meetings, and collaborative synthesis, the taskforce identified five overarching challenges: (1) environmental and climate-related threats to sleep; (2) inequitable access to sleep medicine and care; (3) the rapid expansion and potential of digital health technologies; (4) widespread sleep misinformation and misconceptions surrounding sleep health; and (5) societal change, constant technological connectivity, and the emergence of a 24/7 culture.

Collectively, these recommendations advocate for integrated and equity-focused approaches to strengthen the structural and organisational conditions that support sleep health, improve sleep health literacy, regulate emerging technologies, and ensure that healthy sleep becomes an achievable public health priority across Europe.

Basic summary

J Sleep Res. 2026 Oct 18:e70467. doi: 10.1111/jsr.70467. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Sleep is fundamental to physical, cognitive, and emotional health and wellbeing. However, it is increasingly threatened by environmental, social, technological, and cultural pressures. To identify key priorities for improving sleep health across Europe, the European Sleep Research Society (ESRS)’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee (EDIC) and Early Career Network (ECN) convened a joint taskforce to review current challenges and develop strategic recommendations. Through a scoping review of the literature, iterative consensus meetings, and collaborative synthesis, the taskforce identified five overarching challenges: (1) environmental and climate-related threats to sleep; (2) inequitable access to sleep medicine and care; (3) the rapid expansion and potential of digital health technologies; (4) widespread sleep misinformation and misconceptions surrounding sleep health; and (5) societal change, constant technological connectivity, and the emergence of a 24/7 culture. These interconnected challenges disproportionately affect vulnerable groups and risk exacerbating existing health inequalities. In response, we propose a coordinated set of recommendations structured according to the PESTEL framework (Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Environmental and Legal). Collectively, these recommendations advocate for integrated and equity-focused approaches to strengthen the structural and organisational conditions that support sleep health, improve sleep health literacy, regulate emerging technologies, and ensure that healthy sleep becomes an achievable public health priority across Europe.

PMID:42893830 | DOI:10.1111/jsr.70467

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