title: Clinical and technologic approaches to sleep evaluation.
abstract: This article discusses normal human sleep. Discoveries leading to an understanding of human sleep, electroencephalographic definitions, and general characteristics of normal human sleep are presented. Actuarial data for a first laboratory night are provided. Finally, the mechanisms governing sleep and wakefulness are reviewed and a model of normal sleep mechanisms going awry is outlined as an aid for understanding abnormal sleep associated with sleep disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA. maxh@bcm.tmc.edu
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirshkowitz
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sharafkhaneh
mesh_terms: D004569:Electroencephalography; D004576:Electromyography; D004585:Electrooculography; D006801:Humans; D020189:Nocturnal Myoclonus Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology; D017286:Polysomnography; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology