Could Nightly Sleep Become Optional?

N E W   Y O R K, Dec. 3 -- Imagine a pill that would make sleep unnecessary for fighter pilots on long-range missions, or even the high-powered executives and parents of newborns among us.

It might not be too far off. Scientists are looking at a variety of uses for modafinil, a stimulant that is currently used to treat narcolepsy, a sleep disorder characterized by uncontrollable sleepiness and frequent daytime sleep.

Modafinil (sold under the name Provigil) has been found to increase both wakefulness and what researchers call "vigilance," the ability to stay on task, thinking clearly and functioning normally. Other drugs designed to keep people awake, such as amphetamines, or "uppers," are not nearly as good at keeping users mentally sharp, and they often make people jumpy and anxious.

"It seems to work dramatically," Thomas Scammell, a sleep expert from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston told Good Morning America.Most studies of "normal" volunteers have used military recruits, and the maximum they've kept them up is about four days, with nearly normal performance on mental tasks, he said. But that doesn't mean that people should start taking pills to stay awake three or four days at a time.

"Even if the drug is safe, it seems dangerous to mess with your body's sleep needs," Scammell said. "Aside from the obvious effects on brainpower, which modafinil does seem to counter, there is evidence that lack of sleep hurts the endocrine system and the immune system."

Currently, modafinil is only approved and prescribed for those with narcolepsy. But it is also being studied as an option to treat syndromes where fatigue plays a role, such as multiple sclerosis. Researchers are also exploring the possibility that healthy people could take the pill in order to stay awake, and mentally alert, for days at a time.

The Sleep Disorders Center at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago is doing a study to see if it can help those with Shift Work Sleep Disorder, which often hits those on the 10 p.m. to 8 a.m graveyard shift.