Substance misuse is a major public health problem with high morbidity and mortality. Sleep disorders in this group of clients often escape the attention of the treating professionals which can worsen the substance abuse in turn. Quite often, these subjects would use substances hoping it will aid their sleep.

The primary objective of our review was to look at how psychoactive substances influence our sleeping patterns.

A review of the available literature was done to look into the effects of various drugs of misuse on the sleep architecture.

We have discussed a variety of drugs in the poster – Alcohol, Marijuana, Cocaine and Stimulants, Opiates, GBH, MDMA, Caffeine and Nicotine. For each drug, we have discussed the effects they have on sleep structure in the states of intoxication, withdrawal and chronic use.

There is a high prevalence of sleep disturbances in patients using or abusing psychoactive substances. There is a case of routine screening for sleep problems in subjects using substances. This can help in early identification of the problems and hopefully, better quality of life for these clients.