[Sleep disturbances. Toward a new classification (author's transl)].

Various epidemiological studies show that sleep disturbances are very frequent. The clinician often treats these disturbances in a non specific way with hypnotic medication. He by-passes the diagnostic steps by doing this. Recently our knowledge on normal and pathological sleep has much increased. The aim of this article is to show that it is now possible to define a rational diagnostic approach having therapeutic implications.