BEHAVIORAL STUDIES OF SLEEP PATTERNS IN ALCOHOLICS DURING INTOXICATION AND WITHDRAWAL

¹ National Center for Prevention and Control of Alcoholism, National Institute of Mental Health, Chevy Chase, Maryland

Twenty-four-hour sleep patterns of 50 male alcohol addicts were assessed behaviorally during a 5-day base-line period, a 7- to 62-day period of spontaneous drinking and a subsequent alcohol withdrawal phase. Alcohol ingestion produced an increase in total hours of sleep which was associated with two distinctive changes in sleep patterns:1) fragmentation, a tendency to sleep in several short episodes (3-4 hours) instead of a sustained night's sleep; and 2) somnolence, the distribution of consecutive hours of sleep was shifted beyond the base-line mode and long sleep episodes were combined with occasional naps. Fragmentation of sleep patterns was the most reliable correlate of alcohol ingestion and a frequent accompaniment of alcohol withdrawal. However, there were no common sleep distribution patterns during alcohol withdrawal either as a function of symptom severity or type of medication used. Contrary to the prevailing clinical impression, abrupt cessation of drinking did not invariably produce an initial insomnia. Moreover, hallucinosis occurred as a concomitant of the alcohol abstinence syndrome and independent of an antecedent or concurrent state of insomnia. These data are discussed in the context of current models of physical dependence.

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