[Sleep medicine: development, contributions and perspectives. Report of the work group on sleep medicine] (original) (raw)

Revista de investigación clínica; organo del Hospital de Enfermedades de la Nutrición

Sleep is a basic biological process that has an impact on all the functions of the body, and interacts bidirectionally with virtually all of the body systems, so that the sleep disorders are associated with disturbances in other systems, either respiratory, neurological, cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, etc., and vice versa. The complexity of the regulatory mechanisms of sleep and the variety of their disorders, together with the clinical evidence accumulated in recent decades, have led to the birth of a new branch in medicine: the Sleep Medicine, with well defined intrinsic disorders. The consequences of sleep deprivation or fragmentation induced by changes in social and work dynamics, as well as sleep disorders have harmful effects on individuals in the short and long-term, the most important are an elevated risk for vehicular and occupational accidents, cardiovascular damage, cognitive impairment, obesity, diabetes mellitus, among others, impacting individuals of all ages. The ...