Sleep medicine's most important research gathering of the year concluded in Baltimore on June 17, 2026. The SLEEP 2026 Annual Meeting, jointly presented by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and the Sleep Research Society (SRS), drew thousands of researchers, clinicians, and sleep specialists across four days of poster presentations, oral sessions, symposia, and workshops. Medscape's highlights from June 17–18, 2026 identified the sessions and findings with the strongest translational impact for primary care practice.
For the vast majority of primary care physicians who see sleep-disordered patients regularly but never attend sleep medicine conferences, these findings represent the frontline of what is now known about the most consequential intersections between sleep and chronic disease. Five specific areas of SLEEP 2026 deserve direct attention.
