The Minnesota Sleep Society Organizing Committee was officially formed on September 28, 2009, with the assistance of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), the American Association of Sleep Technologists (AAST), the Sleep Research Society (SRS), and the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine.
The Minnesota Sleep Society (MSS) was created for scientific and educational purposes, and to act as the representative voice for sleep professionals in the state.
The organization has evolved. While continuing to serve multidisciplinary sleep professionals, the organization saw a need to do more. The current mission is to be the premier multidisciplinary sleep society in Minnesota with a focus on sleep health, education, and advocacy in our community.
PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT
The MN Sleep Society Provides:
- Quality continuing education and resources
- Networking opportunities
- Advocacy for healthy sleep in our communities
- Partnerships with others who value the importance of sleep
- Support for sleep professionals in their role of providing quality care
Our tag line is “Leading the way toward better sleep in MN.” We are a robust state sleep society with strong collegial ties which have developed over years of learning and growing together. In addition to the annual meeting which started in 2009, the MSS added a spring meeting in 2016, providing our members with additional education and connection.
COMMUNITY EDUCATION
As the first foray into sleep education and advocacy, we considered where the need was the greatest and decided to address adolescent sleep health. We formed the Teen Sleep: School Start Time Committee which was a research based, policy building, community initiative. This group developed the Teen Sleep Loss Toolkit and sparked discussion in the state on the topic of student health in respect to sleep. Through this effort, the MSS has become known as a resource for evidence-based information and has been sought out by non-sleep professionals.
It was clear, as we spoke to leaders in education, non-sleep professionals, parents and legislators, that there is a need to educate the community on the basics of sleep.
Therefore, in 2019 our advocacy effort evolved, beyond school start times, into the new MSS Education and Advocacy Committee. The goal has expanded to engage community members on sleep health and sleep disorders. The committee aims to bring sleep health promotion material and tools into community settings, including the vulnerable and under-served areas.