The effects of combined sedative and anxiolytic preparations on subjective aspects of sleep and objective measure of arousal and performance the morning following nocturnal medication. II. Repeated doses.

The previous acute dose study showed various combinations of sedatives and anxiolytics to be effective in improving sleep but disrupting some aspects of behaviour the morning following. Repeated doses of similar combinations show that all active preparations improve the subjective assessments of sleep. Some established hypnotics (amylobarbitone sodium) show a hangover the morning following while some anxiolytic/sedative combinations (clobazam/dichloralphenazone) show no hangover. This finding suggests that the different drugs have differential modes of action on sleep and early morning behaviour. The uncertainty with which some anxiolytic/sedative combinations interact to change subjective and objective measures warrants further investigation.