Sleep Disorders: The Status and Clinical Significance.

This article presents an overview of sleep as a vital physiologic state that supports homeostasis, cognitive performance, and overall health. It reviews the epidemiology of sleep, emphasizing standard sleep patterns and the population burden of sleep disorders. The article then summarizes the evolution of sleep medicine, from descriptive clinical observation to experimental and electrophysiological research that established the neural basis of sleep. It concludes with an overview of contemporary management of sleep-related breathing disorders and the role of interdisciplinary sleep care.