ACUTELY SHIFTING THE SLEEP-WAKE CYCLE - NIGHTTIME SLEEPINESS AFTER DIURNAL ADMINISTRATION OF TEMAZEPAM OR PLACEBO

Hypothesis: Sleepiness on the job is a common problem suffered by peop le involved in night shift work, especially in conditions of abrupt re versal of the sleep-wake cycle, such as emergencies and combat air ope rations. It is well known that sleepiness can severely affect alertnes s anti performance. One of the most useful countermeasures is to take a prophylactic nap before working at irregular hours. To induce and ma intain sleep in the ''forbidden zones for sleep'' during the day, it i s possible to use suitable benzodiazepine hypnotics such as temazepam (TMZ). However, it is then necessary to monitor sleepiness and perform ance the night following the diurnal intake of the drug in order to ev aluate possible side effects. Methods: In this study, sleepiness was s ubjectively and objectively measured during the night after a daytime administration of TMZ 20 mg in soft gelatine capsules or placebo to ob tain a prophylactic sleep. Results and Discussion: Results showed the effectiveness of TMZ for inducing and maintaining diurnal sleep. This lengthening of total sleep time did not cause a decrease of sleepiness during the night. but no significant carry over effect of TMZ was pre sent for nighttime sleep tendency. Both polygraphic and subjective mea sures of sleep latency decreased during the night. Finally, no signifi cant relationship between the Stanford Sleepiness Scale and the Multip le Sleep Latency Test measures was found.