Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders

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Sleep and circadian rhythm disorders are common and many people struggle with the effects of chronic sleep deprivation and fragmentation. The effects of these chronic sleep disorders may include negatively affected mood, health, longevity, and productivity. They may also contribute to the development of other medical and psychiatric disorders including elevated blood pressure, cardiac disease, diabetes, depression, anxiety and cancer.

Brigham and Women’s Hospital has a distinguished history in the fields of sleep and circadian rhythm research. In 1929, Drs. Fulton and Bailey, working in Dr. Harvey Cushing’s neurosurgery service at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, first identified the anterior region of the hypothalamus as the brain center responsible for the timing of sleep within the 24-hour day (now recognized to be the site of the human circadian pacemaker within the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus).

More recently, the resetting effect of light on, and the intrinsic period of, the human circadian pacemaker were discovered at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Continuing this tradition through the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Brigham and Women’s Hospital has an advanced program of clinical care as well as basic scientific and patient-oriented research concerning the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of sleep and circadian rhythm disorders that is well renowned across the nation.

The Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders is jointly sponsored by the Departments of Medicine and Neurology. The mission of the division is to forge a path of discovery in sleep medicine while providing the highest standard of clinical care for patients with sleep disorders and training the next generation of leaders in sleep medicine.

The Division offers a comprehensive approach to the evaluation and treatment of all adult sleep disorders such as:

Clinical Services are offered at Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Harbor Medical Associates and South Shore Hospital. Patient appointments can be made by calling (617) 983-7489 (Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital), (855) 278-8010 (Brigham and Women’s Harbor Medical Associates or (781) 624-8448 (South Shore Hospital).

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