[Good Brain 2024] Kim Seok-ju Chairman, "Sleep is the Key to Brain Health"

2024 Good Brain Conference
Keynote Speech by Kim Seok-ju, President of the Korean Society of Sleep Medicine
"Sleep is Essential for Brain Health"
Korea Has the Shortest Sleep Among OECD Countries... "Sleep Problems Are Serious"
Recent Attempts to Overcome Through Integration with Digital Health

"Sleep is something that happens in the brain, is caused by the brain, and is for the brain. This is why sleep is essential for brain health."

Kim Seok-ju, Chairman of the Korean Society of Sleep Medicine, is delivering the keynote speech at the "2024 Good Brain Conference" hosted by Asia Economy on the 11th at The Plaza Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

At the ‘2024 Good Brain Conference’ hosted by Asia Economy on the 11th at The Plaza Hotel in Sogong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, Kim Seok-ju, Chairman of the Korean Society of Sleep Medicine (Professor of Psychiatry at Samsung Seoul Hospital), delivered a keynote speech on the theme of ‘Sleep and Brain, Digital Health,’ emphasizing the importance of quality sleep to maintain brain health.

Chairman Kim explained, "Sleep strengthens memory, improves mood, and helps eliminate waste products from the brain." He added, "Experiences from the day are stored in the hippocampus and then re-enter the cerebrum during sleep at night," and said, "The reason memory declines when you don’t sleep well is because sleep plays a role in reinforcing memory." He continued, "The reason you feel better after sleeping is that the area responsible for anxiety weakens during sleep," and conversely, "If you don’t sleep well, the system that processes waste accumulated in the brain is not activated, increasing the risk of dementia and Parkinson’s disease."

However, South Korea is the country with the most severe sleep problems and is the ‘sleep-deprived country’ that sleeps the least among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. In particular, high school students sleep an average of only six hours a day, and students’ sleep time continues to decrease. Chairman Kim pointed out, "When students don’t get enough sleep, suicide rates increase and academic performance declines," and "Our direct research results also show that studying without sleeping does not improve grades but rather causes them to drop." After becoming adults, about 30% work in shifts, and due to overlapping occupational and environmental factors, the number of insomnia patients in Korea reaches 680,000.

Kim Seok-ju, Chairman of the Korean Society of Sleep Medicine, is delivering the keynote speech at the "2024 Good Brain Conference" hosted by Asia Economy on the 11th at The Plaza Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Jo Yong-jun jun21@

To overcome this reality, recent attempts have been made to combine sleep with digital health. Sleep medications are only temporary prescriptions, and cognitive behavioral therapy is the most effective treatment for insomnia, requiring the application of various diagnostic and treatment methods together. Chairman Kim introduced, "Various wearable devices for measuring sleep are emerging, utilizing beds, light, sound, etc., to help sleep well," and "Digital therapeutics (DTx) for insomnia have been developed and approved domestically, and there are also electronic medicines that stimulate brain waves to induce sleep."

Chairman Kim also said, "Sleep is essential for brain health, playing an important role in cognitive function and emotional recovery," and added, "Although sleep-related digital health is rapidly growing, securing economic feasibility remains a challenge to overcome."