cannabisnews.com: Pill Could Make Sleeping Optional





Pill Could Make Sleeping Optional
Posted by FoM on December 04, 2001 at 16:06:50 PT
ABC World News Report
Source: ABCNews.com
Imagine a pill that would make sleep unnecessary for fighter pilots on long-range missions, or even the high-powered executives and parents of newborns among us. It might not be too far off. Scientists are looking at a variety of uses for modafinil, a stimulant that is currently used to treat narcolepsy, a sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleepiness and frequent daytime sleep. 
Modafinil (sold under the name Provigil) has been found to increase both wakefulness and what researchers call "vigilance," the ability to stay on task, thinking clearly and functioning normally. Other drugs designed to keep people awake, such as amphetamines, or "uppers," are not nearly as good at keeping users mentally sharp, and they often make people jumpy and anxious. "It seems to work dramatically," Thomas Scammell, a sleep expert from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston told Good Morning America. Most studies of "normal" volunteers have used military recruits, and the maximum they've kept them up is about four days, with nearly normal performance on mental tasks, he said. But that doesn't mean that people should start taking pills to stay awake three or four days at a time. "Even if the drug is safe, it seems dangerous to mess with your body's sleep needs," Scammell said. "Aside from the obvious effects on brainpower, which modafinil does seem to counter, there is evidence that lack of sleep hurts the endocrine system and the immune system." Currently, modafinil is only approved and prescribed for those with narcolepsy. But it is also being studied as an option to treat syndromes where fatigue plays a role, such as multiple sclerosis. Researchers are also exploring the possibility that healthy people could take the pill in order to stay awake, and mentally alert, for days at a time. The Sleep Disorders Center at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago is doing a study to see if it can help those with Shift Work Sleep Disorder, which often hits those on the 10 p.m. to 8 a.m graveyard shift.  Not for Everyone  Though sleep experts acknowledge the drug's effectiveness for narcoleptics, they raise alarms about using it for the average, healthy person who simply wants to do more and sleep less. Joyce A Walsleben, director of the Sleep Disorder Center at the New York University School of Medicine, said that overall, modafinil is good at keeping people awake without side effects. "Well, one looks at the risks of sleepy people driving and working and clearly they can be a danger to themselves and others, so improving that is a service," she said. "However, none of us wants to suggest that this drug will replace sleep yet, and we are careful to say that at all times." Sleep research took a big step forward three years ago, when scientists discovered a new family of neurotransmitters called orexins. Studies showed that a deficiency of orexin causes narcolepsy. Somehow, the drug modafinil makes up for the missing orexin, though scientists are not clear on how it does so. In a recent study led by Dr. Charles Czeisler, a professor at Harvard, and Dr. David Dinges, a sleep deprivation researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, 16 healthy people were placed in a lab where some were given modafinil and the rest took a placebo.  Staying Sharp in Sleep Lab  First, participants had to stay awake for 28 hours to mimic the sleep-deprived state of shift workers, those who alternately work day and night shifts. Then they began a four-day period of being awake at night and sleeping from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The volunteer subjects who had taken the modafinil sustained their alertness and the capacity to perform well on a variety of tests, while those who had taken the placebo had a significantly higher error rate. The military is spending more than $100 million on similar research, on the rationale that soldiers who sleep less will give the United States a military edge. Rosalind Cartwright, a sleep expert from Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago, said that the research center is looking at the impacts of the drug on those who suffer from excessive daytime sleepiness, associated with chronic shift work. Modafinil is also being tested on those with sleep apnea. "But this is all very early. No one knows what the longer-term effects of this will be," she said. "The biggest problem is drug interaction effects about which nothing is known." Furthermore, not enough is known about how the drug will affect those who do not have an orexin problem, she said. The drug also raises serious social issues, she said. "My take on this is that as a culture, we already over-work and under-rest," she said. "We are too driven to do more and more to keep ahead of the game. We abuse the natural sleep-wake cycle and so far it appears to turn around and bite us when we do." Complete Title: Sleepless Nights or Days: Pill Could Make Sleeping Optional Source: ABCNews.comPublished: December 3, 2001Copyright: 2001 ABC News Internet VenturesWebsite: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Contact: http://www.abcnews.go.com/onair/email.html
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Comment #7 posted by Rainbow on December 05, 2001 at 18:11:32 PT
GCW
You remind me of a tale we heard back in the early 70's. Apparently some dentist had studied the use of marijuana smokers and tooth decay. He found that marijuana creates a film that protects the teeth.
Don't you know I smoke even more. That's all I needed. Well that and the pain reduction from playing intramural football.
Cheers
Rainbow
I gotta find that article. Humm working at Mayo gives me access to a lot of Journals. There are quite a few articles in the Journal of Nursing about the benefits of marijuana and that is one source.
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Comment #6 posted by The GCW on December 04, 2001 at 20:44:02 PT
To ruminate is big.
Sleep brings some of the in balance. Then were are also able to ruminate. We can ruminate with cannabis, better. Imagine how ruminating would help with a long trip, say to Neptune. Cannabis for food and fuel. Like its rot resistance in rope, it may even aid teeth decay for the journey. Sleep Ruminate Cannabis 
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on December 04, 2001 at 20:37:27 PT
Cannabis Crusader 
No, you're right. On the History Channel's series on the Drug War it said that Hitler injected Methamphetamine four times a day. I think it said the troops took it too but I was so shocked when they said that about Hitler I forgot if they said the troops too.
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Comment #4 posted by Cannabis Crusader on December 04, 2001 at 20:28:51 PT
Amphetamines
I think the Germans were on of the first to use speed to "enhance" the abilities of their troops. If I'm not mistaken, the "German Blitz" was a direct result amphetamines(and the panzer tank of course). The German troops were so jacked up they could march faster and longer than conventional troops. This enabled Hitler to move large amounts of troops in extremely short amounts of time. Not to mention the fearlessness which they were reported to fight with. The Germans produce gallons and gallons of amphetamines which became a regular part of their diet. I could be wrong though.
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on December 04, 2001 at 19:39:47 PT
Cannabis Crusader & Everyone
That was really good. I saw this article and Peter Jennings on World News Tonight talk about this drug. The Military is very interested. I'm flabbergasted at the hypocrisy of it all. I guess if they can get the "awe" out it isn't a drug. If you don't sleep for a excessive amount of time you will hallucinate. One way or the other you can't stop the "awe" because I believe our brains need it.When my husband was in Vietnam he would get little orange diet pills. I asked him if they had a name and he said no just little orange pills that made you speed, speed, speed. They were in the Army's pharmacy and they were very easy to get. You got bottles of a thousand. They also got something called Obesital (sp) they took a couple spoonfuls and then there was some liquid speed in vials and you would snap them and put them in your soda and go go go! That was gotten from the Vietnamese not the Army. Speeding is very productive to war. It takes fear away and you just do what you have to do.
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Comment #2 posted by Cannabis Crusader on December 04, 2001 at 18:57:11 PT
Also?
I have heard that when we are asleep (particularly REM sleep) the body repairs the microscopic tears in our muscles that occur from their uses during the hours that we are awake and moving. There is even a disorder called fibro-something-or-another where a person can't get into the REM sleep state and they feel tired and achy all the time. I could be wrong. Has anyone else heard of this? The body seems to function at its fullest potential when everything is in balance, just as nature does. And, going without sleep for a few days would definitely disrrupt this balance. I believe it would be a safe bet that there will be some serious unforseen side-effects from the use of this drug. Could this be the first "legit industrious" drug? I can see it now...Dreams will soon be put on Schedule I.  Sleeping cost the nation $100bn a year and must be destroyed like the cancer that it is. A whole new class of social outcast called "Sleepers," or "Sleep adicts." I'm probably just over reacting.
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Comment #1 posted by The GCW on December 04, 2001 at 18:36:48 PT
lack of sleep
I thought that after 48 hours your body does not replace the brain cells you loose from lack of sleep.
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