Sleep deprivation is a silent epidemic. Since the invention of the light bulb, we have increasingly had less sleep than our ancestors. We prioritize work, school, socializing, sports, screen time – just about everything – over sleep. Sleep is viewed as compressible, something that can be made up at any time, but rarely is. Most believe this poses little risk. Unfortunately, they could not be more wrong. The truth is that an adequate amount of good-quality sleep is critical to good health. Lack of sleep leads to deadly crashes, reduces productivity, and harms quality of life. Insufficient or disordered sleep can increase risk for anxiety, depression, heart attack, stroke, arrhythmia, heart failure, and early death. This Teach-Out can be your first step in doing something about sleep deprivation. By joining this Teach-Out, you will be able to: Understand how the sleep deprivation epidemic affects your health and wellbeing. Implement solutions to improve your own sleep habits. Identify strategies you can harness to improve the quality of sleep within your community.