Animal Models in Sleep Research

Sleep is an integral and indispensable part of life in the animal kingdom. In the current world of 24 × 7, loaded with digital technologies, there are growing concerns about decreasing sleep quality and quantity and its effect on health. Sleep studies in animal models have offered enormous insight into the sleep regulation process; nonetheless, much more research is needed. Animals serve as an important experimental model for sleep studies because experiments on controlled sleep deprivation cannot be conducted in humans due to ethical constraints. As the techniques employed in these studies may not be familiar to all, this chapter will detail the procedures adopted for performing implantation of electrodes for sleep recording, in the rat model. Along with that, relevant methods that may assist new laboratories in establishing animal sleep laboratories are showcased. These will also provide the necessary knowledge for examining its relation with cognition and other functions to investigate the cellular/genetic basis of linked disorders.