Sleep Disorders

Future Scientific Research into Sleep

Most of what we know about the biology of sleep has been discovered only in the last 50 years. Sleep remains largely a mystery despite the enormous amount that researchers have learned in recent decades. There is still no accepted reason for why humans developed the need to sleep.

Doctors have turned their attentions in clinical practice related to sleep disorders, but scientific research is not keeping pace. For instance, little is known about the neurobiology of both insomnia and restless legs syndrome despite the fact that millions suffer from them. Continuous Positive Airway Pressure machines have made a huge difference in the lives of many sleep apnea patients, yet they are still fairly intrusive and not universally accepted by patients.

From the National Sleep Disorders Research Plan

We are now beginning to understand the impact of chronic sleep loss or sleeping at adverse circadian times on our ability to function optimally and on our physical and mental health. How sleep loss, sleep displacement (e.g., shift work, jet lag), and a wide range of sleep disorders affect one's ability to maintain health and healthy functioning in this 24/7 world, however, remains relatively poorly understood. Thus, despite the scientific progress made since 1996 in both clinical and basic science related to sleep and its disorders, there remains the challenge and the need to discover the functions of sleep, to understand and develop better treatments for the many disorders affecting sleep, and to explain the nature of human physiology during wakefulness and the individual stages of sleep. Without progress in these areas, countless millions will continue to suffer the consequences of dysfunction and abuse of this most basic regulatory process.

From the National Institutes of Health:

Sleep research is expanding and attracting more and more attention from scientists. Researchers now know that sleep is an active and dynamic state that greatly influences our waking hours, and they realize that we must understand sleep to fully understand the brain. Innovative techniques, such as brain imaging, can now help researchers understand how different brain regions function during sleep and how different activities and disorders affect sleep. Understanding the factors that affect sleep in health and disease also may lead to revolutionary new therapies for sleep disorders and to ways of overcoming jet lag and the problems associated with shift work. We can expect these and many other benefits from research that will allow us to truly understand sleep’s impact on our lives.

Scientists are looking at

sleep deprivation
molecular and cellular basis of sleep
sleep disorders
circadian rhythms

In 1993 Congress created the National Center on Sleep Disorder Research (NCSDR) within the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Congress also mandated development of a National Sleep DIsorders Research Plan. The U.S. federal government spends over $100 million per year on sleep and sleep-disorder research. The first plan came out in 1996 with a revision in 2003.