Introduction :
Sleep medicine is a medical superspeciality devoted to the diagnosis and therapy of sleep disturbances and disorders. From the middle of the 20th century, research has provided increasing knowledge and answered many questions about sleep-awake functioning.
Disorders and disturbances of sleep are widespread and can have significant consequences for affected individuals, as well as economic and other consequences for society. Sleep deprivation has also been a significant factor in many dramatic accidents. The first sleep clinics in the United States were established in the 1970s.
The International Classification of Sleep Disorders (ICSD) :
The concept of sleep medicine belongs to the second half of the 20th century. Due to rapidly increasing knowledge about sleep, including the growth of the research field of chronobiology from around 1960 and the discoveries of REM sleep (1952?53) and sleep apnea (first described in medical literature in 1965), the medical importance of sleep was recognized.
The World Federation of Sleep Research & Sleep Medicine Societies (WFSRSMS) was founded in 1987. The European Sleep Research Society (ESRS) is a member of the WFSRSMS.
The Assembly of National Sleep Societies (ANSS), which includes both medical and scientific organizations from 26 countries as of 2007, is a formal body of the ESRS. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), founded in 1978, administered the certification process and sleep medicine examination for doctors.