So, sleep is kinda important. It helps you do things like be productive at work, enjoy life (in general), and to not go ballistic on a regular basis because you're too tired to be nice to people.
One thing from clerkship that has been a genuine surprise is how often I talk about sleep hygiene. I'm on my family rotation right now and it's a regular occurrence. However, that was also the case in Psychiatry and Internal and Pediatrics as well. Ironically I think my main training on sleep hygiene consisted of a few off-hand comments by a preceptor who really cared about sleep for their patients.
Maybe it's because physicians generally have terrible sleep hygiene, but it's something that doesn't seem all that emphasized in our training. Yet, it's arguably an area of lifestyle improvement we could have a large effect on, because unlike diet, exercise, and substance use, people with poor sleep are usually pretty motivated to get better sleep. No one likes being tired. It's also an area with fewer fad approaches (though that's starting to change...). As we slowly start to incorporate more lifestyle interventions into our education and practices, I'd like to see sleep take a more prominent position. It's a very easy way to improve patients' lives.
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