Sleep Disorders

Sleep Research Needed

Here's a reason it's so tough to diagnose and treat sleep disorders: nobody knows for sure what sleeping is for. There is no scientific consensus, or anything approaching a consensus, as to why humans and animals need to sleep. There are sketches of theories, and we understand some of the physiology – the mechanisms of sleep. But there are still mysteries, and the big picture is far from complete.

Sleep medicine and sleep research has been growing rapidly in recent decades. There are over 2,000 specialized sleep centers existed in the United States now, and the growth of this branch of medicine has been fueled by the needs of patients as experienced by doctors in the practice.

Indeed, the practice has run ahead of the formal medical establishment. Medical student training does not explicitly treat sleep as a separate discipline. There is a dearth of formal systematic study. There are over 4,000 clinical professionals in the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, yet fewer than 100 basic research faculty members spend the majority of their time in sleep research. The two-process model - is it accurate? Or can we develop a more detailed model?

Insomnia and restless legs syndrome are common disorders for which we know very little about neurobiologically. Treatments for sleep apnea (e.g., Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) have made a huge difference in the lives of many patients, yet they are still intrusive and not universally accepted by patients.

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. The US Government’s National Institutes of Health is planning to fund program that cut across traditional disciplines to improve the was training and coordination of sleep medicine and sleep research in academic health centers.