SLEEP 2021: Shining New Light on Sleep Medicine

What to expect at this year’s virtual SLEEP 2021 conference: forward thinking presentations, revolutionary data, and groundbreaking research.

We are very excited to be nearing the biggest event of the year: SLEEP 2021! Yes, it’s worth the exclamation point. Hosted by the nation’s premiere and largest sleep medicine physician organizations, blocking time on your calendar to attend the virtual conference is a must if you live in the world of sleep medicine. With hundreds (yes, hundreds) of presentations on the horizon, now is the time to plan out your SLEEP 2021 agenda. In this piece, we’ll touch on the organizations putting on this outstanding event. We’ll highlight some of the key sessions that we are interested in. And, we’ll talk about a few big themes we anticipate will drive conversation at this year’s conference. With that in mind, let’s take a quick look at the history of SLEEP.

Who is running the show for SLEEP 2021?

New to SLEEP? The main players are the biggest in our industry. Th event is a joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and the Sleep Research Society (SRS), which together form the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC (APSS), and while virtual the past two years, the annual SLEEP meeting has been running for over 30 years. The impact of sleep is far reaching, as emphasized on their history page:

SLEEP has been attended by nearly 100,000 sleep medicine professionals and has become the world’s premier forum on sleep medicine, and sleep and circadian research.

The event this year looks to follow in the footsteps of the 2020 conference, going fully virtual. SLEEP 2020, which you can read a recap of here, was by and large, a successful improvisation by the APSS committee. With more than 3,000 digital attendees last year, and over 300 presentations, the sleep discussion was still as lively as ever. We’re very excited to see how the APSS team has evolved their event in 2021, as each and every one of us are more accustomed than ever to video calls and virtual meetings.

What are the must attend sessions at SLEEP 2021?

While it can be difficult to judge a book by its cover or a session simply by its title, we have been tipped off on a few presentations that we will be sure to attend. We asked around, and our team was eager to share a few of the sessions they’re most excited about, including the first one below which touches on “Semiology,” a term we had to google:

The Devil is in the Detail: Semiology and Electro-Clinical Correlation in the Differentiation of Sleep-Related Seizures and NREM Arousal Disorders
Sleep to Change Your Mind
Delayed Neural Injury Following Chronic Sleep Loss
Leveraging Sleep and Circadian Science to Devise and Disseminate Novel Treatments to Improve Sleep Health Among Adolescents and Adults

Plus two from the Tech Track:

Careers for Sleep Technologists
Artificial Intelligence and Sleep in the 21st Century and Beyond

In addition to the above topics, make sure you don’t miss the opening plenary session. With over 700 attendees last year, the opening session sets the tone for the entire conference. The keynote speaker, Eus JW Van Someren, PhD, will present: “In Search of Brain Mechanisms of Insomnia.” Will this opening session align with our expected conference themes? We’re very eager to find out with the rest of you!

Three themes we anticipate seeing after SLEEP 2021

It can be impossible to guess the theme of a conference before it starts, but we’re going to take our best shot at doing just that. Here are three topics we believe will be on everyone’s mind by the end of the month:

Increasing the focus on screening for potential OSA patients
Exploring new models for preventative and proactive CPAP adherence programs
Checking out the latest and greatest in sleep technology to consider real-world AI solutions for your sleep center

What other topics do you anticipate will bring the most buzz year? Are we missing something obvious that jumps out at you? Let us know at team@ensodata.com if you have ideas! And, if you forgot to register for the event, last minute registrations are still being accepted and content is available through November 30th, 2021.

Where can you find EnsoData at SLEEP 2021?

From improved clinical validation of our scoring AI to new ideas and discoveries, the Enso research crew (plus our distinguished partners and collaborators) really had a great year. Jump over to our SLEEP 2021 abstracts post to dig into four of our six research abstracts in more depth, and when SLEEP 2021 kicks off – come and connect with our awesome team in the conference exhibit hall. We have tons of amazing content to share on the latest in AI scoring for sleep!

That’s all for now – we hope to see you at SLEEP 2021!