This past June, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), an organization dedicated to advancing sleep care and enhancing sleep health, declared that sleep is a biological necessity.

“It is the position of the AASM that sleep is essential to health, and we are urging educators, health care professionals, government agencies, and employers to prioritize the promotion of healthy sleep,” AASM President, Dr. Kannan Ramar states.

The declaration, which was written by members of the 2020-2021 AASM Board of Directors and has been endorsed by more than 25 relevant organizations, explains that there is a lack of sleep education at the medical-education levels, resulting in sleep being left out of many patient-practitioner conversations.

This is a hazard, not only to public safety, but to personal safety as well. Here’s why.

This past June, one of the biggest producers of CPAP machines, Philips Respironics, recalled millions of devices due to a malfunction: The foam used to reduce sound was found to degrade into chemicals that, according to the FDA, can cause serious and potentially life-threatening injuries.

This left the millions of sleep apnea sufferers impacted by the recall to choose between getting rest at night or using a device that could be harming them—at least until Philips Respironics works through a solution with the FDA. Which, according to Philips, could take a year, minimum.

Thankfully, there is already an effective first line of treatment for mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea, and an alternative treatment for severe sleep apnea patients intolerant to CPAP: oral appliance therapy.