Behavioral Medicine and Sleep: Concepts, Measures, and Methods

Abstract

Until recently, behavioral medicine research, including its conceptual models, measures, and clinical applications, has focused almost exclusively on psychological, social, behavioral, and environmental factors that occur or are measured during waking. Yet, humans spend 1/3 to 1/4 of their lives asleep, and there is strong evidence that sleep is essential to health and functioning. The premise of this chapter is that behavioral medicine models that incorporate sleep, whether as a major variable of interest, a confounder, an effect modifier or therapeutic target, offer a more complete understanding of the processes through which psychological, social, behavioral, and environmental factors affect and are affected by health and functioning. The goal of this chapter is to identify the dimensions of sleep that may be most relevant to behavioral medicine, describe how each may be assessed, and briefly summarize relevant evidence linking sleep to health and functioning. The chapter concludes by identifying important future directions related to the role of sleep in behavioral medicine research and its clinical applications.