A major limitation in the study of sleep breathing disorders in mouse models of pathology is the need to combine whole-body plethysmography (WBP) to measure respiration with electroencephalography/electromyography (EEG/EMG) to discriminate wake-sleep states. However, murine wake-sleep states may be discriminated from breathing and body movements registered by the WBP signal alone. Our goal was ...

Blind individuals are not only handicapped by their loss of vision, but are also affected because the loss of sight may have a secondary impact on functioning of their biological clock. The objective of the present study was to determine the impact of visual loss on sleep/wake disorders. A prospective 48-item questionnaire survey was distributed to blind individuals through the French Associati...

Dijk, Derk-Jan, and Steven W. Lockley. Invited Review: Integration of human sleep-wake regulation and circadian rhythmicity. J Appl Physiol 92: 852–862, 2002; 10.1152/japplphysiol.00924.2001.—The human sleep-wake cycle is generated by a circadian process, originating from the suprachiasmatic nuclei, in interaction with a separate oscillatory process: the sleep homeostat. The sleep-wake cycle is...

This review describes normal and disordered sleep in the older adult population. Although several distinctive sleep changes across the lifespan are normative, including changes in the amount of time spent in different stages of sleep and a shift in the timing of circadian rhythms, sleep disorders are also common in late life. Sleep-disordered breathing, insomnia, circadian rhythm sleep-wake dis...

A variety of previous results indicate that the norepinephrine (NE) locus coeruleus (LC) system is integrally involved in regulation of sleep and waking. In particular, LC activation promotes wakefulness. This appears to be one of the major arousal systems in the brain. The LC was also found to be critical for rebound sleep following sleep deprivation, and increased sleep that occurs following ...

INTRODUCTION Sudden, often positive emotions are typical triggers for cataplexy in patients with narcolepsy-cataplexy (NC). Cataplexy during sexual intercourse and orgasm (orgasmolepsy) has been previously reported, but its frequency and characteristics are poorly known. AIM To assess frequency and features of loss of muscle tone during sexual intercourse in a series of patients with NC, othe...

The human circadian system is normally synchronised with the solar day, insuring that alertness and performance peak during daytime hours and consolidated sleep occurs during the night. In circadian rhythm sleep disorders, the pattern of sleep-wake is misaligned with the patient's circadian system or the external environment, resulting in insomnia, fatigue, and deterioration in performance. App...

OBJECTIVE To examine sleep quality and sleep-wake patterns in parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and parents of typically developing (TD) children. METHODS Thirty-five mothers and 22 fathers completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, a 7-day sleep diary, and wore an actigraph for 1 week. RESULTS Parents of children with ASDs reported poorer sleep quality compared t...

The aim of the study was to assess sleep-wake habits and disorders and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in an unselected outpatient epilepsy population. Sleep-wake habits and presence of sleep disorders were assessed by means of a clinical interview and a standard questionnaire in 100 consecutive patients with epilepsy and 90 controls. The questionnaire includes three validated instruments: t...

The medical profession has been generally very slow to acknowledge the importance of sleep medicine and sleep research. Disorders of sleep are related to anxiety, many mental and neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular and respiratory disorders, and obesity. Our knowledge of the neural substrates of sleep/wake states and sleep-related behavior disorders regulation in health and the diseases,...