Zaleplon
Pronunciation:ZAH-leh-plon
Chemical Abstracts Service Registry Number:151319-34-5
Formal Names:Sonata
Type:Depressant.Seepage 19
Federal Schedule Listing:Schedule IV (DEA no. 2781)
USA Availability:Prescription
Pregnancy Category:C
Uses.This substance is a sleep inducer that also has anticonvulsant prop-
erties. Zaleplon is neither an opiate nor a barbiturate nor a benzodiazepine
depressant.
The drug’s sleep-inducing effects wear off so quickly that zaleplon seems
suitable for use in the middle of the night without risk of hangover drowsiness
after waking up. The substance has been approved for NASA (National Aer-
onautics and Space Administration) space shuttle crews and has been carried
on flights, an environment where immediate alertness is required upon awak-
ening. Despite lack of grogginess after people rouse themselves, they should
nonetheless avoid dangerous activity (such as driving a car) right after taking
a drug intended to induce sleep. Researchers testing zaleplon when it was
active, rather than after its effects should have worn off, found that it inter-
fered with people’s actions to about the same extent astriazolambut less than
lorazepamorzolpidem. Sleep medicines with short action sometimes make
people nervous after extended use, and nervousness has been reported by
some persons using zaleplon, but that unwanted effect was not observed in
formal tests with the drug. Experiments with rats and mice find zaleplon to
have an antianxiety property. Results of human research conflict on whether
zaleplon has a brief rebound insomnia effect, but the trend is to find no re-
bound. “Rebound” is when people have trouble sleeping for a night or two
after dosage stops.
One study found doses to be more potent among Japanese than among
Americans. The reason is unclear; it may be related to average body weights
or to some ethnic factor.
Drawbacks.Zaleplon can cause people to forget what happens for a couple
of hours after a dose, and some persons still have amnesia trouble the day
after a dose. One experiment found the intensity of that effect to be compa-