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SLEEP 2021 Conference Showcases Latest Advances in Sleep and Circadian Science

By Admin      

SLEEP 2021, the 35th annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies (APSS), was held June 10-13 as a virtual event, allowing attendees to live-stream lectures and panel discussions in real time or watch them later on video. The world’s largest meeting for sleep and circadian science, SLEEP represents the most cutting-edge research in sleep-related fields, showcasing over 35 multi-disciplinary speakers from all over the world. This year’s event started with a plenary session featuring keynote speaker Eus JW Van Someren, who heads the Department Sleep and Cognition at the at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience. The plenary session also included award ceremonies for achievements in sleep-science and sleep health fields. After the plenary session, the general session of the conference included a number of abstract presentations, symposia, clinical workshops, and discussion groups on a range of topics such as sleep disorder treatment improvements, sleep during the COVID-19 pandemic, and new, breakthrough insights into the nature and science of sleep.

SLEEP Goes Virtual

Normally held every summer at a different location, the SLEEP conference has been held online as a virtual event for the last two years due the COVID-19 pandemic. But despite those restrictions, both the SLEEP 2020 and SLEEP 2021 events have been highly successful in expanding both the knowledge of sleep science and the network of sleep health professionals looking to improve sleep disorder treatments throughout the world. While the virtual platform is limited to remote communications, it is an effective way to present information in formats that can be accessed both during and after the event, and this has been one  of the most popular aspects of the remote platform. As a result of the successes of both SLEEP 2020 and SLEEP 2021, the conference will continue to provide online access to meeting events and features in the years to come. 

About SLEEP

The APSS, the group that organizes the annual SLEEP meeting, is a joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and the Sleep Research Society (SRS). Together, these two large-scale sleep-health organizations are responsible for the entire event, including booking, networking, marketing, and presentation platform. 

“Great ideas come out of networking and talking with colleagues, researchers and clinicians, so we want to facilitate that as much as possible given the technology capabilities that we do have,” APSS Program Chair Dr. Shalini Paruthi announced on an AASM press release about the event. “We’ve tried to capture all of the elements we would typically have in person and convert that to a virtual format,” Dr. Paruthi said. 

One popular feature at the event, the exhibit hall, was replaced with a 24-hour accessible virtual exhibit hall where companies involved will be featuring their latest products and services. The poster hall will still be available 24-hours a day until Nov. 30, and presentation videos will remain available to anyone visiting the SLEEP 2021 website at Sleepmeeting.org.

For more information about the exhibits, view the SLEEP 2021 schedule or meeting guide.

SLEEP 2021 Highlights

According to the SLEEP 2021 meeting guide, this year’s conference included the following highlights during the three days of scheduled events:

• Announcements for the AASM and SRS sleep science award recipients, along with remarks from both organizations’ presidents.
• Over 800 research abstracts on sleep science, sleep data during the COVID-19 pandemic, and treatment technologies such as CPAP, telehealth, and EEG.
• One-hour Meet the Professor sessions, which gave attendees a direct line of communication to top professionals in sleep science fields.
• Over 60 lectures on subjects separated by three main categories: clinical sleep science and practice, basic and translational sleep and circadian science, and technologist tracks. 
• Continuing education with postgraduate courses on numerous subjects related to sleep health and sleep science, including on a course on “The Year in Review, 2021,” an entire class on new perspectives and recent findings in sleep and translational science, taught by sleep experts Daniel Barone, M.D. and Rebecca Spencer, Ph.D.
• A special, exclusive musical event by the Hidden Jazz Club, accompanied by a video presentation on “The Dawn of the Sleep Field,” combining progressive jazz instrumentals with a historical overview of the beginning of sleep science and sleep disorder treatment.
• Special pandemic-related sessions which included a lecture by Wendy Troxel, Ph.D., senior behavioral and social scientist at RAND Corporation, presenting “From Crime to COVID: Disparities in Sleep and What We Can Do About It.”
• Live Exhibition Hall: 24-hour access to exhibits until Nov. 30. 
• Industry sponsored events, including two by CPAP manufacturing company Philips Respironics, titled “The Importance of Technology in OSA Adherence” and “Cardiorespiratory Sleep Staging (CReSS) for Home Sleep Apnea Testing,” both describing new technologies in sleep apnea diagnosis and treatment. 

In addition to these highlights, the conference involves over 5,000 sleep and circadian scientists, sleep medicine physicians, and other health care providers to inform one another, inform the public, and discuss the latest advances in sleep science and sleep disorder treatment. The SLEEP meeting provides a unique opportunity for sleep health education and a chance to expand the knowledge of sleep for the benefit of medical science and the public it serves. SLEEP, whether online or in person, is a supportive environment where information, ideas, products, and services are shared for a common purpose: improving ing sleep health throughout the world.  

Next year’s conference, SLEEP 2022, is being planned as an in-person event scheduled for June 4-8 in Charlotte, North Carolina. 

Learn more at sleepmeeting.org

Sources

American Academy of Sleep Medicine - https://aasm.org/

Associated Professional Sleep Societies - https://www.sleepmeeting.org/about/

SLEEP 2021  - https://www.sleepmeeting.org/

SLEEP 2021 Abstract Supplements  - https://www.sleepmeeting.org/abstract-supplements/

SLEEP 2021 Attendee Guide - https://www.sleepmeeting.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/SLEEP2021_VirtualGuide-4.pdf

Sleep Research Society - https://www.sleepresearchsociety.org/