Sleep EEG Power Spectra, Insomnia, and Chronic Use of Benzodiazepines

Abstract

The findings show that spectral analysis is an efficient tool to detect and quantify the effects of benzodiazepine use on sleep structure, particularly with older adults, a group for whom macrostructure sleep alterations due to physiologic aging are hard to distinguish from sleep changes induced by insomnia and the use of hypnotic drugs. In addition, these results raise important questions about the effects and indications of prolonged use of benzodiazepine medications in older adults with insomnia complaints.