Handbook of Sleep Research, Volume 30, provides a comprehensive review of the current status of the neuroscience of sleep research. It begins with an overview of the neural, hormonal and genetic mechanisms of sleep and wake regulation before outlining the various proposed functions of sleep and the role it plays in plasticity, and in learning and memory. Finally, the book discusses disorders of sleep and waking, covering both lifestyle factors that cause disrupted sleep and psychiatric and neurological conditions that contribute to disorders. - Emphasizes a comparative and multidisciplinary approach to the topic of sleep - Covers the neurobiology and physiology of sleep stages, mechanisms of waking, and dreaming - Discusses in detail the proposed functions of sleep, from health and rest, to memory consolidation and synaptic plasticity - Examines the current state of research in mammalian and non-mammalian species, ranging from primates to invertebrates

We tend to think of sleep as a private concern, a night-time retreat from the physical world into the realm of the subconscious. Yet sleep also has a public side; it has been the focal point of religious ritual, philosophic speculation, political debate, psychological research, and more recently, neuroscientific investigation and medical practice. In this first ever history of sleep research, Kenton Kroker draws on a wide range of material to present the story of how an investigative field - at one time dominated by the study of dreams - slowly morphed into a laboratory-based discipline. The result of this transformation, Kroker argues, has changed the very meaning of sleep from its earlier conception to an issue for public health and biomedical intervention. Examining a vast historical period of 2500 years, Kroker separates the problems associated with the history of dreaming from those associated with sleep itself and charts sleep-related diseases such as narcolepsy, insomnia, and sleep apnea. He describes the discovery of rapid eye movement - REM - during the 1950s, and shows how this discovery initiated the creation of 'dream laboratories' that later emerged as centres for sleep research during the 1960s and 1970s. Kroker's work is unique in subject and scope and will be enormously useful for both sleep researchers, medical historians, and anybody who's ever lost a night's sleep.

Sections cover classification and diagnosis, primary sleep disorders, disorders of the sleep/wake cycle, disorders secondary to other psychiatric and mental conditions, and pharmacotherapy. Each chapter deals with a particular medical specialty or disease entity. Topics covered include interactions between sleep and pathological states, drug effects, EEG profiles, metabolic/endocrine changes in the elderly. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

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