Sleep medicine | Specialists and information

Whether healthy sleep or disturbed sleep - sleep medicine deals with both. First and foremost, of course, sleep physicians are called in to treat disorders. Regular sleep deprivation over a long period of time can have serious mental and physical consequences. Diseases and disorders that affect sleep include sleep apnoea, sleepwalking, sleep-through disorders and "restless legs", i.e. restless legs syndrome.

If sleep disorders or sleep-wake disorders have an impact on the body, specialists are required. If the sleep disorders persist for a long time, an examination is often carried out in a sleep laboratory. Patients then spend a certain amount of time in a clinic. There, doctors monitor their sleep electronically.

Polysomnography records the following activities and then analyzes the data:

  • Brain waves
  • heart rate
  • eye movements
  • muscle activity
  • Oxygen saturation

In the end, many points provide an overall picture to find the cause of the sleep disorder. Patients with narcolepsy also consult sleep physicians.

Recommended specialists

Article overview

Sleep medicine - Further information

Sleep medicine is a medical specialty that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders.

Experts in sleep medicine come from these specialties:

In addition, they have completed 18 months of specialist training in sleep medicine.

During this training, the doctors deal with the effects of sleep on the body and mind.

They also deal with the questions:

  • What is sleep?
  • How does sleep work?
  • What sleep disorders are there?
  • How do sleep disorders manifest themselves?

The treatment of sleep disorders is also at the heart of the specialist training in sleep medicine.

Spectrum of sleep medicine

Diagnostics includes anamnesis, i.e . a detailed discussion with the patient about their complaints and medical history.

However, the sleep laboratory provides more detailed information . Here, the patient sleeps, connected to various diagnostic devices that monitor breathing, movements and other values.

This allows the sleep medicine experts to get a picture and draw conclusions about the cause and extent of the disorder.

SchlaflaborIn the sleep laboratory, doctors monitor the patient's sleep with recording devices @ RioPatuca Images /AdobeStock

The range of treatments in sleep medicine is very broad and depends on the cause of the disorder. This is why sleep physicians often work together with experts from other specialist disciplines.

Common therapies include:

Medical spectrum

Therapies

Diseases

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