The effect of medication on sleep.

Understanding the role that medication has on sleep is difficult for many reasons. Most medications have not been sufficiently studied to determine their primary effects on sleep and waking behavior. Because of the increased awareness of the importance of sleep to health and well being, the effects of a new drug on sleep and waking behavior should be a mandatory element of the clinical trials process. Even when the effects of a drug are known, the medication may act differently in normal individuals and individuals who are ill. The interaction of many medications would be difficult to predict,and acute effects may be quite different from chronic use. Even a general idea about the effects of a medication will help the sleep medicine specialist understand and interpret the polysomnogram and MSLT accurately.