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Cultural Considerations and Sleep

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Handbook of Cultural Factors in Behavioral Health

Abstract

Understanding the causes of health disparities across racial/ethnic groups is an important public health cause. One of the important health disparities to address is poor sleep quality or insufficient sleep. Cultural considerations and sleep problems are a specific area of significant health concerns, but sadly little is known of the effect of ethnicity on sleep. Newer studies suggest that sleep disturbances such as undiagnosed sleep apnea and insomnia occur more frequently among racial/ethnic minorities. Further, it has been proposed that a number of factors likely impact ethnic/racial differences in sleep. This can include sleep related beliefs and knowledge about socioeconomics differences in work/home/neighborhood environments, acculturation, bed sharing, access to health care, and trust in medical professionals all may play a role in impacting sleep beliefs and behaviors in ethnic populations. The challenge is often identifying the sleep disorder and prescribing treatment because often the diagnosis is based on patients’ subjective report. Thus, it is important that clinicians can recognize the difference between acute sleep problems and more chronic sleeping problems such as insomnia and sleep apnea. Historically, the most common approach to treatment of sleep disturbance is often prescription medications, but this comes with a cost for the consumer. Increasing literature now suggests that insomnia is a highly treatable condition via the use of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), but the research on the prevalence rate of insomnia among various ethnic groups is mixed. Therefore, it is crucial that cultural considerations be taken into consideration in order to target sleep-related difficulties.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Integrated Sleep & Wellness, Reno, NV, USA

    Ruth Gentry

  2. Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Nevada School of Medicine, Reno, NV, USA

    Ruth Gentry

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  1. Ruth Gentry
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Correspondence to Ruth Gentry .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Reno, Reno, NV, USA

    Lorraine T. Benuto , Frances R. Gonzalez  & Jonathan Singer ,  & 

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Gentry, R. (2020). Cultural Considerations and Sleep. In: Benuto, L.T., Gonzalez, F.R., Singer, J. (eds) Handbook of Cultural Factors in Behavioral Health. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32229-8_23

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