Aviat Space Envir Md
-
Aviat Space Envir Md · Nov 2001
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialMelatonin and zopiclone as pharmacologic aids to facilitate crew rest.
In response to mission imperatives, transport aircrews must often sleep at inappropriate circadian times resulting in inadequate sleep. This study was undertaken to determine whether either melatonin or zopiclone could facilitate early circadian sleep, and to assess whether either of these medications would result in a psychomotor performance decrement which would preclude their use in aircrew. ⋯ Both zopiclone and melatonin improved sleep relative to placebo. After sleep inertia, performance recovered to pre-sleep levels for all tasks and was sustained at that level throughout the balance of the testing period. There was no impact of melatonin or zopiclone on performance measures compared with placebo.