Autonomic Nervous System and Sleep

Book excerpt: This comprehensive book addresses all elements of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) and sleep interaction, as well as ANS alterations in sleep and how these impact primary and comorbid sleep dysfunction. It meets the market need for a comprehensive text that deals with ANS changes in sleep and how these impact various neurological, medical, and primary sleep disorders. Organized into three parts, the book begins with a review of the foundational bodily systems that participate in coordination of ANS activity with other homeostatic responses such as respiration, cardiovascular reflexes, and responses to stress. Part two then examines methods of laboratory evaluation and the “why, when, how” of interpreting heart rate variability in sleep. To conclude, the final section of the book broadly covers the many clinical aspects of ANS, including insomnia, restless leg syndrome, sleep apnea, sleep related epilepsy, and acute autonomic neuropathy. Autonomic Nervous System and Sleep enhances the reader's understanding of the pathophysiology of various disorders, and explains how to apply this profound understanding is important to new lines of therapy to improve morbidity.