The study of sleep can be traced to the 1830s in Scotland. But, it wasn't until the 1970s that the practice of sleep medicine evolved at Stanford University. And, it was at Stanford that Jim Kowall, M.D., completed a residency in neurology and a fellowship in sleep medicine. Last June, Dr. Kowall moved to the South Coast and opened a practice in internal medicine at Bay Clinic. Now, with Dr. Kowall as the medical director, Bay Area Hospital opened a Sleep Center in February to serve the more than 20 persons a month who are referred elsewhere in the state for sleep studies.
Sleep is a complicated process.
Normally, REM sleep occurs about 90 minutes after falling asleep, and several times thereafter, while non-REM has several stages including light to deep sleep. Each stage is important. REM sleep is referred to as dreaming sleep. First, there is a complaint of not sleeping well at night. As a result, the person does not feel alert, refreshed, and restored during the day.