Nonpharmacologic Management of Excessive Daytime Sleepiness

Unlike other reviews written on this topic, the focus of this article is primarily on nonpharmacologic treatments for daytime sleepiness that is not secondary to other medical or psychological conditions. To provide an appropriate background on primary excessive daytime sleepiness, what is considered optimal sleep in terms of sleep duration, sleep insufficiency, and sleep need is discussed in detail. This discussion is followed by an examination of the behavioral strategy of banking sleep. After briefly discussing behavioral interventions for sleepiness associated with narcolepsy, a new behavioral method of treating daytime somnolence is proposed and described.