Exploring Sleep Disturbance in Central Nervous System Disorders: A Workshop

Wed Nov 02 2022 at 09:30 am to Thu Nov 03 2022 at 02:00 pm

Keck Center | Washington

NASEM Health and Medicine
Publisher/HostNASEM Health and Medicine
Exploring Sleep Disturbance in Central Nervous System Disorders: A Workshop Workshop exploring the role of sleep in CNS disorders and opportunities to mitigate sleep disturbances associated with these disororders.
About this Event

Workshop Details

  • Day 1: November 2, 9:30 am - 5:00 pm ET
  • Day 2: November 3, 9:30 am - 2:00 pm ET

The workshop agenda along with the planning committee and speaker biographies will be posted on the event page.


Workshop Objectives

On November 2-3, 2022, a planning committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Forum on Neuroscience and Nervous System Disorders will organize and conduct a 1.5-day public workshop that brings together experts and key stakeholders from academia, industry, government, philanthropic foundations, and disease-focused non-profit organizations to explore the role of sleep in central nervous system (CNS) disorders and opportunities to mitigate sleep disturbances commonly associated with these disorders.

Invited presentations and discussions may:

  • Examine the prevalence and nature of sleep disturbances across CNS disorders;
  • Review the current state of knowledge regarding the mechanisms, function, and characterization of sleep, including changes across the human lifespan;
  • Discuss research gaps, including those around methodological considerations and harmonization, and opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration between sleep experts and those focused on CNS disorders along the basic to clinical spectrum;
  • Consider opportunities to better understand underlying mechanisms of sleep by leveraging advances from ongoing efforts (e.g., BRAIN Initiative) to integrate behavioral outputs with brain network and neural circuit activity;
  • Explore how a genes-first approach can illuminate the bi-directional relationship between disturbed sleep and CNS disorders;
  • Consider potential relationships among disturbed sleep, CNS disorders, and environmental factors associated with both disturbed sleep and increased risk for CNS disorders, including discussing related disparities and approaches to disentangling causal versus contributing factors;
  • Consider the impact of altered circadian timing (in shift work, and otherwise in modern society) on sleep quantity and quality and associated co-morbidities e.g. CNS disorders; and
  • Explore the potential of sleep as a mitigatable target by drugs, devices, and behavioral modifications, as well as a measurable marker related to CNS function, including standardization and common data format requirements to facilitate deeper and cross-therapeutic understanding of sleep.

Background

Sleep is a complex biological process, with numerous evolutionarily-gained functions. Despite its indisputable biological importance, much remains unknown about sleep, including the bidirectional relationship between central nervous system (CNS) disorders and sleep disturbances.

Primary sleep disorders, such as insomnia and hypersomnolence, will affect approximately one in three Americans at some point in their lives. Disordered or disturbed sleep increases the risk for several diseases, including stroke and depression. Additionally, sleep disturbances have been commonly observed in people with CNS disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, autism spectrum disorders, and multiple sclerosis, although questions remain regarding the existence and directionality of causality. Disruptions in circadian rhythms have also been linked to numerous conditions, including traumatic brain injury and mood disorders. Recent scientific innovations have illuminated the ways in which a genes-first research approach can improve our understanding of how and why sleep occurs, and can be further applied to the explore the relationships among genetic variation, abnormal sleep, and CNS disorders.

Environmental factors also contribute to changes in sleep and disordered sleep (e.g., light, noise, air pollution, pesticide exposures, and lead exposure). The health effects of existing racial and economic disparities, such as historical redlining and the nature of shift work, are compounded by their impacts on sleep, exacerbating health disparities and inequality. Many of these factors related to environmental exposures have also been associated with CNS disorders.

Despite the prevalence of sleep disturbance in CNS disorders, most CNS clinical trials either do not measure sleep or do not use sophisticated methods for tracking and measuring it. Partnerships between industry and academia provide opportunities for innovation to advance sleep measurement, facilitate a deeper and cross-therapeutic understanding of sleep, and explore approaches to addressing sleep disturbances. This workshop will review current sleep science, examine the relationships between CNS disorders and sleep, identify potential cross-disciplinary collaborations, and discuss opportunities to better understand and mitigate sleep disturbances associated with CNS disorders.

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Event Venue

Keck Center, 500 5th Street NW, Washington, United States

Tickets

USD 0.00

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