[Neurophysiological, neurochemical, autonomous and chronobiological basics of sleep medicine]

The review discusses various mechanisms of the rapidly growing problem of Sleep Medicine. The "Sleep-wakefulness" cycle is a continuum of different functional states and the diseases that these states might prompt to manifest themselves in various ways. In these cases, we must say that change produces the conditions of disease manifestation rather than the disease itself. The paper describes the dynamics of the autonomous parameters during sleep, emphasizes the role and importance of chronobiological aspects of the "sleep-wakefulness" cycle. The holographic principle of the operation I sleep cycle is described which persists even in the cerebral stroke. From the standpoint of neurochemistry, modern hypnotics and drugs of the nearest future can be divided into 2 groups: proS (pro sleep)--for sleeping, and antiW (anti-wakefulness)--vs. wakefulness.