Sleep quality on ayahuasca drinkers

• Grant number: 23/10516-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: November 30, 2023
• End date: May 29, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Psychiatry
• Principal Investigator: Jaime Eduardo Cecilio Hallak
• Grantee: Giordano Novak Rossi
• Supervisor: Kim Kuypers
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Maastricht University, Maastricht (UM), Netherlands
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/04600-9 - Effects of four doses of ayahuasca or dextrocetamine on major treatment-resistant depression: a randomized, double-blind study, BP.DR

Abstract

Sleep disorders are highly prevalent worldwide and often emerge as a symptom of psychiatric conditions such as depression and anxiety. On the other hand, sleep regulation and improvements in sleep quality are related to better life quality and health in general. Within this context, there is preliminary evidence that ayahuasca, a classical hallucinogen and other serotoninergic hallucinogens modulate sleep architecture. Next to that ayahuasca shows therapeutic potential, especially for treating depression and anxiety, and chronic consumption has been linked with improved quality of life and better mental health. Given the aforementioned findings, it is suggested that ayahuasca's effects on sleep might be a possible mechanism by which it induces its reported therapeutic effects. Therefore, we aim to investigate changes in sleep quality before and after a single ayahuasca administration in an open-label, naturalist trial design with ayahuasca consumers. This will improve the current understanding of ayahuasca's mechanisms of action and expand the knowledge of how it and similar substances may exert their therapeutic effects. (AU)