Details

Sleep is a unique field because it draws on the expertise of a multitude of subspecialties for insights into pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management, which is a reflection of the complex interplay between sleep and health or disease. Sleep serves as a biomarker of a host of medical conditions (e.g., heart failure, neurodegenerative disease) and influences the physical and mental resiliency of both healthy individuals and those with disease. Moreover, sleep often affects not only patients but also–and sometimes disproportionately–their bed partners and family members. As a result, patients often present to the sleep clinic through referrals from other first-line care providers or specialists as well as at the behest of someone else.