[Proceedings: Psychotropic drugs and quality of sleep: quantitative neurophysiological and subjective parameters...

The effect of drugs of the 3 main psychopharmaceutical classes (anxiolytics, neuroleptics, antidepressants) on objective and subjective sleep parameters was studied in healthy normal volunteers. Objective parameters included: computerclassified sleep stages, visually evaluated REM-activity as well as 22 variables of the quantitatively analyzed all-night sleep and REM-sleep EEG. Alterations of the subjective sleep quality were rated based on a sleep self-rating scale. It was found that anxiolytics, neuroleptics and antidepressants induce characteristic changes in the objective sleep parameters. Subjectively, the quality of sleep was best after anxiolytics, while the quality of awakening in the morning was dependent on the dose of the anxiolytic drug. Finally, the relationship between objective and subjective sleep parameters was explored.