Neuroanatomic and neurologic correlates of sleep disturbances.

Abstract

The cyclic alternations of wakefulness and sleep competing for the domain of brain activity are controlled by neuronal systems contained in the core of the brainstem, hypothalamus, thalamus, and basal forebrain. This organization encompasses complex neuroanatomic, neurophysiologic, and neurochemical mechanisms that are subject to disruption from within, or as a result of incidental alterations of appropriate brain centers. The first section of this article reviews the wake-sleep disturbances that occur with lesions in defined neuroanatomic structures involved in sleep mechanisms, such as the brainstem, hypothalamus, thalamus, and cerebral hemispheres. The second section gives an overview of specific sleep alterations associated with neurologic disorders. These include stroke, Parkinson's disease, degenerative systemic disorders, multiple sclerosis, myotonic dystrophy, myasthenia gravis, brain tumors, head trauma, coma, epilepsy, and headache syndromes.