The National Sleep Foundation (NSF) is an American non-profit, charitable organization. Founded in 1990, its stated goal is to provide expert information on health-related issues concerning sleep. It is largely funded by pharmaceutical and medical device companies.
Research
NSF Sleep Duration Recommendations
In 2015 NSF released the results of a research study on sleep duration recommendations. The paper titled "National Sleep Foundation's sleep time duration recommendations: methodology and results summary" was published in the peer-reviewed Sleep Health Journal. NSF convened an expert panel of 18 leading scientists and researchers tasked with updating the official sleep duration recommendations. The panelists included sleep specialists and representatives from leading organizations including the American Academy of Pediatrics, American Association of Anatomy, American College of Chest Physicians, American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Geriatrics Society, American Neurological Association, American Physiological Society, American Psychiatric Association, American Thoracic Society, Gerontological Society of America, Human Anatomy and Physiology Society, and Society for Research in Human Development. The panelists participated in a rigorous scientific process that included reviewing over 300 current scientific publications and voting on how much sleep is appropriate throughout the lifespan.
Sleep Health Index NSF developed Sleep Health Index to measure sleep health at a global group or at an individual level. It was created with the help of sleep experts and public opinion research experts. It is composed of three sub-component scales: sleep duration, sleep quality, and sleep disorders. The Index is fielded quarterly and results are publicly available.
Sleep in America Poll NSF has conducted a national poll called Sleep in America Poll to catalog the state of sleep in America since 1991. This poll provides valuable information to the public, sleep community and the media on specific topics of interest. Past Sleep In America poll data and results are available on the NSF's website. The NSF Sleep in America poll began providing evidence of the size and scope of the American sleep problem in 1991. The 2002 Sleep in America poll (1,010 people surveyed) first suggested that as many as 47 million Americans were risking injury and health problems because they were not sleeping enough. Media coverage of 2002 Sleep in America poll suggested a sleep "crisis" and an "epidemic," and included headlines such as "Epidemic of daytime sleepiness linked to increased feelings of anger, stress and pessimism." Again, in NSF's 2005 Sleep in America poll, it reported that half of adults report frequent sleep problems and 77 percent reported a partner with a sleep problem, with snoring being the most common complaint. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) declared insufficient sleep a "public health epidemic" in 2014.
Sleep Health Journal Sleep Health is NSF's official, peer-reviewed academic journal. It was launched in 2015. The Journal's aims are to explore sleep's role in population health and bring the social science perspective on sleep and health. Its scope extends across diverse sleep-related fields, including anthropology, education, health services research, human development, international health, law, mental health, nursing, nutrition, psychology, public health, public policy, fatigue management, transportation, social work, and sociology. The Journal was 2016 winner of the Association of American Publishers' PROSE Award for Best New Journal in Science, Technology and Medicine. The PROSE Awards annually recognize the very best in professional and scholarly publishing by bringing attention to distinguished books, journals, and electronic content. The 2021 Journal Citation Reports published a 2020 Impact Factor of 4.450 for Sleep Health.
Sleep Monitoring Standards In 2014 NSF encouraged the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) and the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) to develop standards for sleep technology. As a result, the R6.4 WG1 Sleep Monitors Group was established, composed of sleep experts and technology manufacturers. In September 2017, CEA and NSF announced a new standard for measuring sleep cycles with wearables and other applications. The new standard expands on 2016's work that defined terms and functionality required for sleep measuring devices.
Education
Public education NSF educates the public about sleep health in content that appears through online, print and broadcast media. NSF's official website is thensf.org which is the primary sleep health website for sleep education content. NSF operates three public education websites: thensf.org, drowsydriving.org (supporting NSF's annual Drowsy Driving Prevention Week campaign), and sleephealthjournal.org (supporting NSF's peer-reviewed research journal Sleep Health). NSF also licenses its educational content at times for distribution by other entities. NSF-branded sleep health content appears on sleepfoundation.org, which was acquired by OneCare Media in 2019. OneCare is a marketing business based on digital content, with a portfolio of consumer-oriented websites, primarily focused on health topics, and derives revenues from commissions on products sold by its affiliate partners. The website continues to be titled "Sleep Foundation" and uses the .org domain.
Physician education The National Sleep Foundation is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. In March 2017, NSF was awarded Accreditation with Commendation by the ACCME. Accreditation with Commendation is ACCME's mechanism for celebrating organizations that excel. Many of NSF's physician education courses are found in the Sleep Learning Zone, an online learning platform.
Public awareness
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