[The sleep and the visceral function control].

The review focuses on rapidly growing body of data indicating that disturbances of the natural sleep and sleep deprivation lead to various visceral disorders. The review mentions consequences of sleep disturbances on the gastro-intestinal system, cardio-vascular and respiratory, immune, endocrine and reproductive functions. In order to establish the functional link between the sleep and the visceral health it is proposed that during sleep the central nervous system including all cortical areas switches from the processing of the exteroceptive information to the processing of the interoceptive information. Review of the studies, which offer the direct confirmation of this hypothesis, is presented.