Sleep and Sleep Disorders

Many recent discoveries in both laboratory and clinical settings have greatly increased our understanding of sleep medicine and the relevant psychopharmacology. This timely book serves to present updated information about the neuropsychopharmacology of sleep as this field enters mainstream psychiatry, neurology and medicine This volume has assembled articles that summarize and review carefully, a chosen selection of the latest discoveries concerning sleep medicine, sleep physiology and sleep pharmacology. Outstanding contributions have been sought from acknowledged experts in their respective fields.  The goal of the volume is to present the more recent developments and advances in the fields of sleep and neuropsychopharmacology, as well as to provide a context for considering them both in depth and from multidisciplinary perspectives.   This volume brings together the collective expertise of clinicians and basic researchers who represent a range of interests in neuroscience, neuropharmacology, sleep physiology, and biological rhythms.  Presenting a thoughtful balance of basic experimental and clinical facts and viewpoints, this book will serve as a foundation for understanding, and ultimately treating, sleep disorders.

"How far has science gone in understanding the mechanisms of sleep and wakefulness and the pivotal physiologic and pathologic roles of sleep? Sleep and wakefulness constitute major homeostatic systems, whose proper function is crucial to the health and happiness of the individual. Both systems operate at the intersection of the nervous, endocrine, metabolic and immune systems, and their homeostatic mediators include all kinds of molecules, such as neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, hormones and cytokines. This book succeeds in providing, to large extent, the state-of the-art robust knowledge in this important area of science and medicine."

George P. Chrousos, M.D., FAAP, MACP, MACE

- University of Athens, Athens, Greece

- National Institute of Child, Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA