Sleep in the Intensive Care Unit

The current evidence indicates that acutely ill patients admitted in the intensive care unit (ICU) suffer sleep disturbances that include sleep deprivation (SD), sleep disruption, and, more specifically, decreased or absent slow-wave and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Quantifying sleep quality and duration in ICU patients is problematic because subjective and objective sleep measures have inherent weaknesses, and minimal thresholds for sleep have not been established. Sedation and analgesia are often implemented for patient comfort and to provide tolerance to medical interventions and mechanical ventilation. Secondarily, these drugs induce a sleep-like state. However, increased sedation results in disrupted sleep architecture that may impede the normal restorative functions of sleep. Therefore, other interventions should be implemented for critically ill, ICU patients so that restorative sleep can occur.