Zeitschrift für Schlafstörungen: Behandlung und Pflege

Sleepless Nights and Bulging Waistlines

William D. S. Killgore

Sleepless Nights and Bulging Waistlines

Obesity is one of the most critical health problems currently facing our planet. The prevalence of overweight and obesity has continued to rise in recent decades, with nearly one in five children and more than one in three adults in the U.S. now classified as obese (http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data). The extraordinary ramifications of this epidemic on physical health, emotional wellbeing, and the economy cannot be overstated. Medical costs associated with the current obesity epidemic have been estimated to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars annually. As the population of our nation ages in the midst of a struggling economy and a healthcare system that is in flux, this upward trend must be reversed rapidly and dramatically if we are to avert catastrophic consequences.