In a meeting on July 22, the Health and Safety Commission welcomed Erin Cassidy-Eagle, psychiatry and behavioral sciences professor at Stanford University, for a discussion about the impact sleep has on health and well-being. Also at the meeting, the commission discussed updates from the Beverly Hills Police Department (BHPD), the Beverly Hills Fire Department (BHFD) and the Human Services Division, that reported a decrease in homelessness and a decrease in crime rates. Later, Jamie Wozny, a wellness coach and speaker, led a moment of mindfulness.
Cassidy-Eagle is a renowned professor of psychiatry who has published nearly 30 studies in behavioral science that focus on anxiety, insomnia and other factors that are known to affect sleep patterns. She attended the meeting virtually, where she led a presentation, discussing the negative impacts of not getting enough sleep and how to eliminate some of these detriments that people may not recognize in their daily life. She pointed out that a common impact people don’t know about is the ability for a person’s body to react to vaccines. “If you have disrupted sleep the week before you get your flu shot this fall, you will only develop 50% of the antibodies that you should develop when you get that shot,” said Cassidy-Eagle.
