Sleep School

Aims of the course: The course “Sleep medicine” will provide the participants overview on sleep medicine and practical tools for professionals and students in the field. The course contents are in line with the material of the Sleep Medicine Examination and serves as a preparatory course for the Somnologist examination (ESRS)  Sleep Medicine Examintaion (ESRS). CME credits will be applied from the University of Turku but are valid in other Finnish Universities, and according to local regulations also in other countries.

Target audience: Medical doctors, nurses, psychologists and other health care professionals working in fields where patients have sleep problems, as well as students and researchers of these fields.

Methods: The course is an e-learning course, and free of charge. The lectures will be offered through Zoom (please, see below) once a month on Wednesday at 16.00-18.00 (EET) from January to May and from September to December. Time allocated for each presentation is 60 min. Registration for the course is not needed. Please note the times:

Finland, Estonia, Lithuania  at 16.00-18.00 (Eastern European time)
Sweden, Norway, Denmark  at 15.00-17.00 (Central European time)    
Iceland at 13.00-15.00 (Greenwich mean time)

Zoom link:
https://helsinki.zoom.us/j/69483257796?pwd=Vm8zbFNmeXdmU2k5d0NxWVgxUWdqQT09
Meeting ID: 694 8325 7796
Passcode: 416707

Further information: 

• No exams. 
• Upon request, you will receive a certificate of attendance in the end of the semester if you have attended the lectures online (tiina.harkonen@helsinki.fi). 
• Please rename yourself in Zoom with first name + last name (do not use nickname/user ID/student number/just first name). 
• This course is part of an electronic theory training management system KOPI. Credits will be applied from the Universities of Helsinki and Turku.
• Curriculum as well as possible changes in the curriculum will be informed at this site. 
• Recordings of the lectures are available until the next lecture. You are able to see recordings by clicking the lecture name. 

If you have further questions, please contact: Tiina Härkönen at tiina.harkonen@helsinki.fi

Course started a new cycle in January 2024: Course introduction video

Curriculum Spring Term 2025
 

Parasomnias, epilepsy etc. 

January 8th 16.00-18.00 (EET)

27. REM parasomnias
Prof. Poul Jennum

28. NREM parasomnias
Assoc. Prof. Morten Engstrøm
 

February 12th 16.00-18.00 (EET)

29. Nocturnal epilepsy as a differential diagnosis to parasomnia. (This lecture will not be recorded!)
MD Specialist in Neurology, Leena Kämppi

30. Dreaming and nightmares.
Senior Researcher, PhD (Psychology), Nils Sandman
 

Movement disorders and sleep

March 12th 16.00-18.00 (EET)

31. Sleep in RLS and PLMS.
MD, PhD, Salla Lamusuo

32. Sleep disorders in Parkinson’s diseases: A sleep physicians’ observation after own diagnosis.
MD, PhD, Michaela Gjerstad  CANCELLED
 

April 9th 16.00-18.00 (EEST)

33. Understanding sleep bruxism.
DMD Specialist, Laura Nykänen

34. Disrupted sleep and movement disorders in autoimmune encephalopathies.
Professor MD, PhD, Morten Blaabjerg
 

May 14th 16.00-18.00 (EEST)
35. Introduction to infant sleep 
MD, Marta Celmina

36. Sleep apnea in children
MD, Tina Lildal 

We want to develop the course and hope for your feedback. Your answer will be processed anonymously.
FEEDBACK FORM

The Applied course in sleep research and medicine course is targeted to students who have accomplished the course MED-TOU11 (An Introduction to Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology) or have gained comparable knowledge otherwise. Basic knowledge of sleep and circadian biology is expected and not covered during the course.

The course is open to students of the University of Helsinki.
Target group is :

• Medicine (MED)
• Translational medicine (TRANSMED)
• Veterinary medicine (VET)
• Psychology (PSYCH)
• Neuroscience (MNEURO)
• Relevant Doctoral programs such as Brain & Mind and KLTO.

During this course the students have an opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge of sleep and circadian mechanisms to real life cases in translational settings. The students will work in small groups to prepare, present and discuss the given real-world cases with peer-students and with clinical- and basic sleep researchers. The students will have an opportunity to interact in a cross-disciplinary working group, give and receive feedback and modify their thinking accordingly. The course is an excellent opportunity to rehearse and practice skills relevant in the future careers of both clinically- and research-oriented students.

After the course the student:

• is familiar with the diagnostic criteria for most common sleep disorders
• can describe, based on current scientific understanding, the biological and mechanistic bases of the symptoms associated to common sleep disorders
• can spot alleviations from the most common symptoms
• can design or predict scientific experiments, which would help to fill the gap in our understanding of sleep disorders.
• can design possible treatments

Understanding the basic mechanisms of sleep- and circadian rhythms by concentrating on pathology. During the course students are presented with cases displaying the characteristics of sleep and/or circadian disorders. The task is to find the disorder based on the diagnostic criteria, explain how the symptoms could be explained at the mechanistic level according to the current scientific knowledge, and finally suggest a treatment strategy as well as plausible research strategies to improve the understanding of the disease.

When: 26.2.-2.4.2025
Course page:MED-TOU76

More information:

Tiina Härkönen, tiina.harkonen@helsinki.fi
Henna-Kaisa Wigren, henna-kaisa.wigren@helsinki.fi