Sleep medicine

Sleep medicine is the medical field concerned with diagnosing and treating disorders that disrupt sleep, breathing during sleep, or daytime alertness.

Sleep: Sleep is a recurring state of reduced responsiveness and altered brain activity that supports health and normal functioning. Disorders are defined by disruptions to sleep’s timing, quality, duration, or associated functions.
Obstructive sleep apnea: Obstructive sleep apnea is repeated partial or complete upper-airway collapse during sleep, disrupting breathing. It is a common disorder diagnosed and treated in sleep clinics.
Pulmonology: Pulmonology is the medical specialty focused on diseases of the lungs and respiratory system. Sleep-related breathing disorders often require expertise shared between sleep clinicians and pulmonologists.
Nathaniel Kleitman: Nathaniel Kleitman was a physiologist whose research helped establish the scientific study of sleep. His laboratory work helped make sleep a subject of systematic human investigation.
Circadian rhythm: A circadian rhythm is an internal biological cycle lasting about 24 hours and synchronized mainly by environmental light. Misaligned body-clock timing can produce sleep disorders even when sleep itself is otherwise normal.
Continuous positive airway pressure: Continuous positive airway pressure is a therapy that delivers pressurized air through a mask to keep the airway open during sleep. It is a standard treatment for many people with obstructive sleep apnea.
Psychiatry: Psychiatry is the medical specialty concerned with diagnosing and treating mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. Psychiatric conditions and their treatments can affect sleep, but sleep medicine also addresses independent physiological disorders.
Eugene Aserinsky: Eugene Aserinsky was a researcher who identified rapid eye movements during sleep in humans. The discovery of REM sleep transformed the physiological classification used in sleep research and clinical testing.
Sleep architecture: Sleep architecture is the pattern and sequence of sleep stages across a night. Clinicians interpret stage patterns to identify abnormal sleep structure and fragmentation.
Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia: Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia is a structured treatment that changes sleep-related behaviors and beliefs. It is a first-line treatment for chronic insomnia, often without medication.

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