“A wake-up call to prioritize our sleep” is how some members of the Pittsburgh community described our Sleep Health Workshop last Saturday, March 21st.
Dr. Hawkins and Dr. Rachel Conlon led the workshop in collaboration with Healthy Start Pittsburgh, a Black woman-led public health organization working to improve maternal and child health across Allegheny County through community-based services, advocacy, and education.
The workshop covered the science behind sleep — what’s actually happening in your brain and body while you sleep — alongside topics like the relationship between sleep and mental health, melatonin use, the challenges of shift work, and the cultural assumptions and mindsets that influence how we think about rest. From there, the group worked together to develop personalized, practical sleep strategies that community members could start using right away.
“We got a lot of engagement from members of the community who were all very interested in sleep health. There was so much enthusiasm that they would like the sleep workshop to be an annual event,” says Dr. Hawkins.
The next workshop in the series is planned for Summer 2026 and will focus on youth sleep. We’re excited to keep this momentum going and bring more sleep science to the Pittsburgh community — stay tuned for more details!
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