ABSTRACT
The benzodiazepine and related drugs are used widely in the treatment of sleep disorders and many have been developed and licensed for this purpose. Insomnia is only one class of sleep disorder that may respond to benzodiazepines and Table 8.1 gives a brief synopsis of the others. The hypnotic activity of benzodiazepines can be evaluated by essentially two kinds of analysis, objective or subjective. Pharmacokinetic factors are extremely important in the choice of a hypnotic whether benzodiazepine or other. The first of the shorter half-life benzodiazepine hypnotics to be introduced were temazepam and triazolam, rapidly followed by others such as loprazolam, lormetazepam and brotizolam. The principal objective effects of benzodiazepine hypnotics on the sleep electroencephalographic are to decrease sleep latency, increase total sleeping time and decrease awakenings during the night. Morning-after effects of zopiclone are mild compared to most benzodiazepine hypnotics.
