Effects of flurazepam on sleep and growth hormone release during sleep in healthy subjects

Abstract

We studied the effect of flurazepam, a known suppressor of stages 3 and 4 of sleep, on nocturnal sleep patterns and on growth hormone release immediately following sleep onset in normal young adults. Polysomnography and sampling of growth hormone (every 20 min for 26 h) were performed before and after 2 weeks of nightly flurazepam (30 mg, 8 subjects) or placebo (8 subjects) administration. There were no significant changes in growth hormone release in spite of a significant decrease in stage 4 sleep (69%) and total waking time (46%) and an increase in total sleep time (23%) in the drug group. REM sleep was not changed. These results indicate that the normal GH release following sleep onset continues to occur despite stage 4 suppression by pharmacological means.