Sedative Sleep — Ready Set Sleep

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Sedatives & Sleep Architecture

—In bed

—Time awake overnight

—Awakenings

—Longest awakening

Not all sleep medications are sedatives, but most have a sedative side effect which can lead to disruptive night awakenings when the effect wears off.

Many learners are prescribed blood pressure medications (such as Clonidine), antihistamines (such as Hydroxyzine), anti-anxiety medications (such as Trazodone), or anti-seizure medications (such as gabapentin).

Blood pressureClonidine

AntihistamineHydroxyzine

Anti-anxietyTrazodone

Anti-seizureGabapentin

Many families report either one long night awakening or an awakening between 2-4 am resulting in “awake for the day.”

Sleep medications can act as sleep dependencies; when the sedative effect wears off, the learner does not have the skills to connect their sleep cycles and fall back asleep.

Recommendations

Identify the learner’s biologically appropriate bedtime based on their age and wake time from the last sleep segment (nap or morning wake up).

Implement a calming bedtime routine that lasts about 30 minutes to one hour, consisting of only calming activities or calming sensory input. These activities do not need to be independently completed; caregiver support may be necessary.

Once the learner is able to enter the sleep space naturally tired, and medication timing has been adjusted to align closer to the learner’s natural sleep time, disruptive awakenings may disappear.