A primer on sleeping, dreaming, and psychoactive agents

Abstract

As a necessary part of physiological and emotional well-being, sleep is often overlooked or undervalued in Western society, in spite of the role restorative sleep plays in growth, healing and recovery, immune response, and emotional regulation. The effect of psychoactive drugs on sleep, including pharmacological substances meant to assist in sleep, is notable and profound, especially in their disruption of REM sleep, the stage of sleep associated with dreaming. This article provides an overview of sleep stages, the brain and sleep, sleep disorders, and the effect of various psychoactive drugs on sleep architecture and hygiene. Future research that treats substance use and sleep as bi-directional in nature and longitudinally explores sleep-related interventions in treatment and longer-term recovery that are sustainable and person-centered is merited.