A planning committee of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 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;
  • Consider opportunities to better understand underlying mechanisms of sleep by leveraging advances from ongoing efforts (e.g., the 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;

• 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;

• Discuss research gaps and opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration between sleep experts and those focused on CNS disorders.

The planning committee will develop the agenda for the workshop, select and invite speakers and discussants, and moderate the discussions. A proceedings of the presentations and discussions at the workshop will be prepared by a designated rapporteur in accordance with institutional guidelines.