Differential Effects of Addictive Drugs on Sleep and Sleep Stages

Addictive drugs affect sleep both in individuals currently using drugs and in individuals who have withdrawn fromdrugs. In fact, sleep disturbances are reported by individuals for some drugs long after they have quit taking themand after other withdrawal symptoms have subsided. This suggests that addictive drugs and sleep share some ofthe same neurobiological mechanisms. Sleep researchers may be studying the neurobiology of addictive drugswithout knowing it. The purpose of this survey is to summarize the effects that addictive drugs have on sleep andstages of sleep. We demonstrate that different addictive drugs have differential effects on disturbance of sleep, ingeneral, and on specific stages of sleep either while the drug is on board or after withdrawal. Accordingly, theseresults are intended to encourage sleep researchers to use their knowledge of sleep mechanisms to offer researchersof addictive drugs new insights of how addictive drugs might affect brain mechanisms. Also, these results shouldalert researchers of addiction that treatment for drug effects needs to consider treatment for sleep disturbances aswell. Treatment for addiction is rarely accompanied by treatment for sleep disturbances even though this surveydemonstrates they are clearly related.