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Article: Sleep Disorders
- Article from:
- Gale Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine
- Author:
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Sleep disorders
Definition
Sleep disorders are a group of syndromes characterized by disturbances in the amount, quality, or timing of sleep, or in behaviors or physiological conditions associated with sleep.
Description
Although sleep is a basic behavior in all animals, its functions in maintaining health are not completely understood. In the past 30 years, however, researchers have learned about the cyclical patterns of different types of sleep and their relationships to breathing, heart rate, brain waves, and other physical functions.
There are five stages of human sleep. Four stages are characterized by non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, with unique brain wave patterns and ...