The initial aim of this WEB site is to provide a
written version of a series of lectures given to public audiences in Finland and
Lapland during October 1997. Initially, these pages will not have been peer-reviewed and
the first level of argument is not properly referenced. My aim, over time, is to improve
the text and provide better cross-referencing to sources. For the moment, though,
the reader has to accept that most of my statements are backed up by experimental or
research data. However, some interpretations might be controversial. Experts or
otherwise can leave comments either by entering the discussion page or by e-mailing me. I
will either argue with them or modify my thinking depending on the feedback. The
comments may find themselves in the discussion section of this site.
Some of my opinions are not conventional within the
current framework of sleep research and medicine. They arise from more than 20 years
research into sleep disorders. I first started when I worked with Professor Ian Oswald,
Edinburgh, who was one of the great proponents of a variant of the restorative hypotheses
of sleep .
In those days the EEG was regarded as the gold
standard of sleep measurement and standards had been set up. Those standards
haven't changed in the last thirty years. This is possibly a lesson in standardization, or
more probably a lesson in underfunding.
This site will continue to be updated after
the lecture tour.
Chris Idzikowski
October 23 1997