Overwhelming evidence points to chronic alterations in sleep from chronic use of addictive substances that may be distinct from some or all of the acute effects of those substances. Interestingly, the effects of chronic use on sleep are similar among both CNS stimulants and depressants. Decreased sleep time, increased sleep latency and wake time after sleep onset, and deficiency in slow-wave sleep generation appear to be common to chronic use of alcohol, cocaine, cannabis, and opiates. REM sleep is also affected by acute and chronic use, but may be more sensitive to the pattern or quantity of recent use and time from last use, as results vary more among studies. Also linking these abnormalities are connections with ongoing use and relapse. However, treatment with typical sleep promoting agents that increase sleep time or efficiency by increasing light sleep may be counterproductive. Agents that address deficiency in slow-wave sleep generation and alterations in REM sleep may prove to be more useful in addressing the connection between chronically-altered sleep physiology and ongoing use and relapse, but substantial research still needs to be done to explore this possibility.
