Somatic Functions of the Nervous System

Abstract

In the field of sleep and wakefulness regulation, the simplified scheme of an activating system cyclically aroused or inactive, which seemed so useful only a few years ago, is now definitely outdated. The term "reticular formation", unless it is a mere anatomical reference, itself needs to be qualified in order to convey a functional meaning. Indeed we have to reckon not only with the idea of an actively evoked sleep, but probably with two different types of sleep with separate triggers, both located somewhere within the reticular formation and intermingled with the classical activating system. How far these three circuits are separate in the anatomical space, how far they utilize private neuronal chains, how they are reciprocally related and how the mutual relationships can be disrupted, how electrical and chemical phenomena contribute to the stereotyped sleep-wakefulness rhythm[long dash]these are the problems which are likely to be actively investigated in the next years.