Dreams play an important role in the lives of Australia’s Indigenous peoples.
Many people believe that dreams are a way for them to connect with their ancestors, receive guidance and ideas to express their creative abilities through songs, dances, and works of art, and to maintain a connection with the spiritual realm. believe.
Because of this, and the fact that it is biologically necessary for maintaining good physical and mental health, getting an adequate night’s sleep is critical to improving health in Indigenous communities. is.
However, sleep issues among Indigenous peoples often go undiagnosed and unmanaged due to a lack of sleep health resources and services that respond to cultural needs and align with Indigenous worldviews.
Roslyn von Senden, a Kalkadoon woman from Mt Isa who is part of a program to improve sleep health in her community, said: The oldest existing culture in the world. It leads to poor emotional and mental health, affecting our well-being and causing chronic symptoms. ”
Indigenous sleep research is a rapidly growing field. Evidence to date Consistently suggests that sleep deprivation rates are high among indigenous peoples around the world.
Inadequate understanding of the effects of sleep deprivation, limited access to professional sleep services and trained staff, inadequate sleep environments, and other social determinants of health make a major contribution Sleep deprivation in indigenous communities.
Worldwide, Three out of five adults suffer from sleep deprivationhas a major impact on their health and well-being.
While strategies that prioritize sleep health should target everyone, investing in the sleep health of Indigenous peoples, who experience poor health at disproportionately high rates, will help achieve health equity. It is essential to do so.
There is growing support for improving sleep health awareness and service delivery in Indigenous communities.
‘Let’s Yarn About Sleep’ is Australia’s first sleep program to address current challenges in sleep health promotion and service delivery in Australia’s Indigenous communities.
The program was designed in consultation with community members, service providers and health professionals.
These consultations highlighted that for Indigenous peoples, in addition to its physical and mental health impacts, sleep also impacts their mental health.
Guided by these rich conversations, this program integrates scientific evidence and Indigenous cultural and traditional knowledge about sleep health to help address late bedtimes, excessive device use, and irregular sleep. Addressed sleep behavior issues in teens, including time and wake time.
The program features totem animal artwork illustrating the effects of sleep deprivation on different parts and functions of the body, country walks to learn about bush foods and bush medicine to improve sleep, indigenous relaxation training and Dreamtime provides visual tools such as stories.
A key priority of this program is to strengthen local capacity to provide sleep medicine services. The program trained Indigenous sleep coaches to help local residents get a better night’s sleep.
Sleep coaches work with participants to understand the situational, behavioral, and health-related factors that impact their ability to get quality sleep.
Based on this information, the sleep coach helps participants identify the sleep health goals they want to achieve from the program and supports participants in achieving those goals.
Although the program primarily focuses on introducing sleep health, a key element of the program is strengthening cultural connections.
One of the program sessions includes a country walk to help participants gain information about bush foods and bush medicine to improve sleep health. In the final session, we will discuss “Sleep for the Strong Soul,” an indigenous relaxation training that calms the mind and relaxes the body for quality sleep.
The program has received unprecedented support from community members.
This significantly improved participants’ knowledge and understanding of sleep, sleep hygiene and practices, and was shown to significantly reduce electronic device use at bedtime.
Local schools have adopted this program as an important extracurricular activity to improve student sleep health.
Other sleep-related projects are currently being planned, including local diagnosis and management of obstructive sleep apnea. A highly prevalent yet grossly underdiagnosed condition Among Indigenous Australians.
Aboriginal health workers are trained to become sleep technologists who can provide sleep apnea care in Indigenous communities.
The team will also offer programs to help young children and their families establish healthy sleep habits from an early age.
Recognizing the role of sleep deprivation in obesity, poor mental health and cardiovascular disease, sleep health needs to be a key priority for the effective prevention and management of health problems in Indigenous communities. there is.
Programs like this that privilege Indigenous voices and empower community members offer great potential for sustainable improvements in Indigenous sleep and related health outcomes.
Associate Professor Yakut Fatima is a social epidemiologist and sleep scientist at the Poche Indigenous Health Center at the University of Queensland.
Roslyn von Senden She is a Kalkadoon woman from Mt Isa who is the Community Engagement Manager for the Let’s Yarn About Sleep program and a trainee sleep coach at the University of Queensland’s Poche Indigenous Health Centre.
Dr. Daniel Sullivan is a psychologist and sleep scientist at the Poche Indigenous Health Center at the University of Queensland.
The research mentioned in this article was supported by the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).
Originally published under creative commons by 360 information™.