This scenario may become a possibility this fall, when the FDA is expected to approve modafinil, a sleep suppressant already approved for the treatment of narcolepsy in France, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Yet narcoleptics aren't the only ones waking up to the benefits of modafinil.
Researchers are interested in the effects of the drug on people without sleep disorders.
The French military tested modafinil on a handful of soldiers during the Gulf War. And Toronto's Defense and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine has conducted its own tests on army reservists. Subjects said the drug made them feel awake without overstimulating them. What's more, subjects who took modafinil slept soundly after 60 hours of wakefulness. They had no lingering side effects.