Editorial Sleep is more than a break from life

This editorial refers to ‘Pulmonary hypertension in obstructive sleep apnoea: effects of continuous positive airway pressure. A randomized, controlled cross-over study’ † by M.A. Arias et al., on page 1106 Man spends one-third of his life in sleep. Sleep is not a passive state but rather an active process that if disturbed on a regular basis can even constitute a threat to man’s health. Sleep medicine is a fairly new discipline and until 1980 there were only few scientific publications on the theme. Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome was first described in 1976 by Guilleminault. Since then it has turned out to be a disorder that does not only cause a noise problem for the patient’s bed partner but also consti-tutes a serious disease of overriding importance. Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome is highly prevalent