2003-10-16

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Wired 11.11: It's Wake-Up Time

Over the years, the search for perfect tranquilizers has led down byways of addiction and overdose. In the 1970s, barbiturates, which are particularly dangerous, were replaced by benzodiazepines like Librium and Valium. But so-called BZDs became known for their side effects: memory loss, rebound insomnia, dependence, withdrawal, and sometimes seizures, paranoia, and depression. Today's leading insomnia medication, Ambien (zolpidem), isn't technically a BZD, but it works on the same neural pathway, suppressing activity across the brain. At the Associated Professional Sleep Societies Convention, the major annual sleep conference held in Chicago last June, researchers showcased several 'novel non-BZD' hypnotics. But most of them attack an already familiar stronghold, the GABA receptors, and are all but certain to be listed as scheduled narcotics. Since the GABA receptor pathways are everywhere in the brain, Edgar explains, the new non-benzo drugs still tend to dim the lights across the entire central nervous system.