The history of sleep medicine and sleep research can be summarized as a history of remarkable progress and, at the same time, a history of remarkable ignorance. Since the publication of the second edition in 1999 enormous progress has been made in all aspects of sleep science and sleep medicine. I am pleased to see these rapid advances in sleep medicine and growing awareness about the importance of sleep and its dysfunction amongst the public and the profession. A sleep disorder is a serious health hazard and a “sleep attack” or a lack of sleep should be taken as seriously as a heart attack or “brain attack” (stroke); undiagnosed and untreated,.
