Daytime psilocybin adversely affects REM sleep in those with migraine

Key takeaways:

• Researchers studied the effects of psilocybin on migraine frequency and sleep in patients with migraine.
• Those who received psilocybin had reduced REM sleep, even beyond the day of administration.

SAN DIEGO — Patients with migraine who received daytime psilocybin experienced reduced REM sleep, with effects lasting beyond the day of administration, according to a poster at the American Headache Society Annual Scientific Meeting.

“This project was done to start exploring a potential source for psilocybin’s lasting therapeutic effects in migraine,” Emmanuelle A.D. Schindler, MD, PhD, medical director of the VA Connecticut Headache Center of Excellence and assistant professor of neurology at Yale School of Medicine, told Healio. “In earlier studies and in anecdotal evidence, limited dosing of psilocybin can lead to long-lasting reductions in headache burden.”

Schindler and colleagues conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study of eight adults (mean age, 37.5 years; 87.5% women) with migraine who participated in two separate daytime drug administration sessions 7 days apart. Participants received zero, one or two 10 mg doses of psilocybin — or 25 mg diphenhydramine when they did not receive psilocybin — and wore a sleep profile device the night prior to, the night of and the night after each session of psilocybin or diphenhydramine.

All enrollees completed a headache diary, beginning 2 weeks before the first drug administration and 2 weeks after the second, up to 1.5 months.

The primary outcome for the study was change in migraine frequency, with sleep measures and sleep changes following drug administration serving as an exploratory outcome.

According to results via independent t-tests and Spearman analysis, individuals given psilocybin had reduced percentage of REM sleep, as well as reduced REM sleep time, compared with baseline and effects of diphenhydramine. The change in REM sleep percentage remained different from that of diphenhydramine beyond the night after administration.

While the effect of the two drugs on change in REM sleep percentage differed significantly the night of administration and the night after, the difference in effect was not significant the night after administration when analyzing the change in REM sleep time.

Data further showed no association between changes in migraine frequency the week after psilocybin and changes in REM sleep percentage or sleep time the night of administration.

“Psilocybin reduces REM sleep acutely and has effects beyond the day of administration,” Schindler said. “There’s a sign that there are lasting effects on brain systems.”