Recent years have seen the rapid development of sleep medicine as a new medical subspecialty. It is estimated that at least 30% of the adult population suffer at least once from some sort of sleep disturbance. Patients with sleep disorders are frequently among the most difficult to treat and account for a high percentage of absenteeism in the workplace. Furthermore, recent evidence indicates that sleep apnea can be a major underlying factor of cardiovascular disease. This authoritative handbook covers the whole area of sleep, from the history of sleep medicine to the pathophysiology of sleep...