SCIENCE
The Defeat of Sleep
Monday 16 April 2007 21:00-21:30 (Radio 4 FM)
BBC Science Correspondent Pallab Ghosh investigates the potential effects of anti-sleep drugs on society. Modafinil is a drug designed to treat narcolepsy, but in the US it is used by long-distance truckers, hard-partying students, taxi drivers and particularly the military, keeping soldiers and aircrews alert on long and dangerous missions. Scientists fear that sleep deprivation will have long-term neurological and cardiovascular effects.
