Draft:Outline of sleep

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to sleep:

Sleep – naturally recurring state of muscle relaxation and reduced perception of one's surroundings, with a decreased ability to react to stimuli, similar to being in a coma, but more easily reversed by being woken up. Adequate sleep is essential for maintaining health. During sleep, most of the body's systems enter an anabolic state, helping to restore the immune, nervous, skeletal, and muscular systems. Sleep occurs in repeating periods, during which the body alternates between non-REM and REM ("rapid eye movement") sleep. Dreams occur during sleep—fantasies in narrative form resembling waking life while in progress, but usually distinguishable from reality upon waking. People may suffer from various sleep disorders, classified as dyssomnias, parasomnias, and circadian rhythm sleep disorders.

What type of thing is sleep?

Sleep can be described as all of the following:

Types of sleep

Sleep phases

Sleep in animals

Persons by sleep pattern

Sleep-related phenomena

Sleep equipment

Sleep and health

Sleep medicine

Biology of sleep

Neuroscience of sleep

Sleep disorders

History of sleep

Sleep organizations

National Sleep Foundation

Sleep publications

Persons influential in sleep

Richard Ferber