Sleep Deprivation And Poverty: Harvard Panel Explains Risks For Disadvantaged Communities (VIDEO)

As part of National Sleep Awareness Week, the National Sleep Foundation's annual campaign to remind people about the importance and value of sleep, The Huffington Post and The Forum at Harvard School of Public Health collaborated on a live webcast event titled "Fighting the Clock: How America's Sleep Deficit is Damaging Longterm Health."

In this highlight from the event, the panelists address an online audience member's question about the effects of poverty on a person's ability to get quality sleep. Dr. Frank B. Hu, M.D., Ph.D., professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, explains that while often we talk about the risks for chronic diseases, like diabetes, that are associated with sleep deprivation, skimping on shut-eye also increases the risk in more disadvantaged communities for infectious diseases, like pneumonia.

Dr. Susan Redline, M.D., M.P.H., professor of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School, highlights some of the groups and organizations working to combat the safety issues facing poor communities around sleep.

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