2011 article

National Institute of Health

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation’s medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases.

Building on scientific advances that link sleep problems to health and safety risks, the National Institutes of Health today released the 2011 NIH Sleep Disorders Research Plan. The plan identifies research opportunities to be pursued over the next three to five years in order to spur new approaches to the prevention and treatment of sleep disorders. Recommended research initiatives include looking at the connection between sleep and circadian systems (the body’s natural 24-hour cycle), studying the influence of genetic and environmental factors that could influence a person’s sleep health, and conducting more comparative effectiveness trials to improve treatments for sleep and circadian disorders.

„Sleep and circadian research have made huge strides during the last decade,“ said Susan B. Shurin, M.D., acting director of the NHLBI. „There are unprecedented opportunities for improved understanding of the physiology of sleep and the impact of disruption of sleep. We must continue to further advance the research, improve our understanding of mechanisms behind sleep and circadian disorders, and to apply innovative approaches to help move the science forward to improve health and prevent disease.“

Whole artlicle on this