Abstract
Sleep disorders have reached epidemic proportions worldwide, affecting the youth as well as the elderly, crossing the entire lifespan in both developed and developing countries. “Real-life” behavioral (sensor-based), molecular, digital, and epidemiological big data represent a source of an impressive wealth of information that can be exploited in order to advance the field of sleep research. It can be anticipated that big data will have a profound impact, potentially enabling the dissection of differences and oscillations in sleep dynamics and architecture at the individual level (“sleepOMICS”), thus paving the way for a targeted, “one-size-does-not-fit-all” management of sleep disorders (“precision sleep medicine”).
Highlights
The Impact of Sleep and Sleep Disorders on Human HealthSince the dawn of mankind, humans have always been fascinated with sleep [1]: the medieval
Sleep disorders have reached epidemic proportions worldwide, affecting the youth as well as the elderly, crossing the entire lifespan in both developed and developing countries
The gene-candidate approach and bioinformatics analyses enabled researchers to identify genetic loci and polymorphisms putatively associated with different features of sleep, including genes encoding for period circadian protein homolog 3 (PER3), human leukocyte antigen DQB1, adenosine deaminase (ADA), adenosine A2a receptor (ADORA2A), catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), dopamine transporter (DAT), dopamine receptor D2 (DRD2), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and basic helix-loophelix family member e41 (BHLHE41/DEC2), among others [29]
Summary
Since the dawn of mankind, humans have always been fascinated with sleep [1]: the medieval. The father of chronobiology, French Jean-Jacques d’Ortous de Mairan (1678–1771) in the eighteenth century and subsequently Nathaniel Kleitman (1895–1999) and his student Bruce Richardson in the forties, anticipated the current theory of the biological clock, carrying out experiments on plants and humans, respectively [1] Despite such a huge and impressive body of research, the precise mechanisms that regulate sleep are yet to be unraveled. In order to better understand the relationship between sleep and health, a new approach (as will be delineated in the following paragraphs) is urgently required This novel theoretical framework should encompass all aspects of human life, “from cradle to grave”, in that “children are not little adults” [5], and each stage has its peculiar aspects
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