When people ask what I study, I explain that my work is at the intersection of sleep science and public policy.
A common answer is “Really? I never thought about sleeping like this.”
Most people consider sleep a matter of personal responsibility
But over the past two decades, my work and that of many others has shown that some of the biggest threats to healthy sleep are not limited to the individual. They are built into the policies we live under.
A friend of mine who follows professional cycling recently shared a story from the Tour de France that illustrates this point perfectly.
A few hours before stage 15, two-time Tour de France champion Jonas Wingegaard woke up at 2:00 am by officials of the International Testing Agency (ITA) for random anti-doping testing. The testing process reportedly took about 40 minutes, and Wingegaard later said he needed extra time to fall asleep again.
As a sleep scientist, this was no surprise. Waking up in the middle of the night, getting dressed, leaving your room and providing a biological sample will not help you fall asleep quickly. It is this kind of disruption that makes it difficult to return to restorative sleep.
During competition later that day, Vingegaard crashed and broke his collarbone, ending his tour.
Did disturbed sleep cause the accident?
Of course, we cannot say that. Bicycle accidents happen for many reasons. But as a sleep scientist, I think this raises an important question: what good does it do to conduct a routine anti-doping test at 2:00 a.m., when decades of research tell us that disrupting sleep reduces reaction time? attention, decision makingand motor coordination?
Why would we knowingly compromise one of the fundamental biological contributors to performance?
And why would we do it in the context of one of the most physically and cognitively demanding sporting events in the world?
Sleep is non-negotiable. It is one of the most powerful recovery tools for athletes. Even one night of disrupted sleep slows reaction time, increases attention lapses, impairs judgment, and reduces coordination. These are exactly the tasks that elite athletes are tasked with. In a sport like cycling, where individual decisions can determine both performance and safety, these disadvantages are critical.
None of this is an argument against anti-doping testing. Fair competition depends on it. But maintaining clean sports should not come at the expense of healthy sleep. A good policy should protect both.
How sleep is discounted in public policy
This story resonated with me because it is another example of how easy it is to fall asleep when it comes to public policy.
In fact, just last week, Congress passed the Sun Protection Act, despite years of warnings from sleep and circadian scientists that constant daylight hours go against human biology.
At first glance, these two events are completely unrelated. One of them includes elite cyclists. Another concerns our biological clocks.
But they share a common assumption: sleep is somehow negotiable.
This is not.
Whether we are talking about elite athletes, teenagers Whether it’s school starting before sunrise, doctors working the night shift, or US citizens waking up in the dark during the winter due to the constant use of daylight hours, the lesson is the same: policies that ignore sleep ignore biology.
And biology always wins.
Sleep is not a luxury. It’s not just idle time. It is a biological necessity and a mandatory performance. It is time for our politics to treat it like this.
