How Long After Spravato Can You Drive?

How long after Spravato can you drive? Longer than the two-hour monitoring window. Patients should not drive, operate machinery, or engage in activities requiring full alertness until the next day after a restful sleep. 

The driving restriction remains in place because cognitive effects after session can linger even after the most noticeable effects wear off. That's why you'll need to arrange transportation after every treatment and wait until the next day, after a full night's sleep, before driving.

Quick answers

• It’s only safe to drive after Spravato once you’ve had a full night's sleep.
• Driving after esketamine isn't allowed on treatment day. Changes in reaction time, thinking, alertness, and spatial awareness can linger beyond the dissociation duration.
• The transportation restriction applies after every treatment session, and the same restriction also applies to operating heavy machinery or doing any work that requires 100% alertness.

Why Spravato affects driving ability after your session

After a Spravato treatment, you can still be impaired even if you don't feel groggy or sleepy. According to board-certified adult psychiatrist MaryEllen Eller, MD, the medication can affect reaction time and awareness, as well as short-term thinking and perception, including how you experience time and space.

The tricky part? You may feel completely fine before you're actually ready to drive yourself home. Being able to walk, talk, and function normally isn't the same as having the reaction time needed to safely operate a vehicle, says Dr. Eller.

The brain “has gone through a dramatic experience and has released many chemicals” that can temporarily affect awareness and responsiveness, explains Dr. Eller. Even when the obvious effects have worn off, your brain still requires time to recover. “Your brain needs to do some rest and restoration before it’s safe for you to get behind [the wheel of] a vehicle,” she adds.

What "the next day" means—and how to plan transportation

There’s no magic number of hours you need to wait before driving after Spravato. Instead, the key milestone is a full night of restorative sleep, says Dr. Eller.

Why? Sleep helps the brain reset. During deep sleep, the brain clears and recycles chemicals that build up throughout the day, restoring focus, concentration, and reaction time, says Dr. Eller. “After Spravato, we need a window where we’ve had an opportunity for deep sleep so our brain can rebound and we are back closer to our baseline,” she adds. A quick nap won’t do the trick.

That means you'll need a ride home after every treatment session. A friend, family member, or medical transportation service may work. Some insurance plans even help cover transportation costs, says Dr. Eller. If arranging rides is a major barrier, ask your provider whether another treatment option, such as TMS, might be a better fit.

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