Sleep Disruption, Aggression, and Violence

This brief recognizes aggression and violent behavior as a public health crisis and provides a review of the role of sleep disruption as a precursor to aggression. It offers clinical practitioners and researchers a synopsis of sleep assessments and intervention strategies that can be utilized to enhance sleep quality/quantity or target sleep disorders along with an overview of the potential effects that sleep interventions may have on aggressive behaviors.  The volume also gives special consideration to the possible contributions of sleep disruption in institutional aggression. It provides recommendations for such environments (i. e., correctional facilities, nursing homes, psychiatric institutions, schools) to inform policy and future research efforts.