![]() ![]() Not getting the right amount of sleep can be detrimental to one’s health. “Generally it is recommended that sleep medications be adopted only for the short-term, for four consecutive weeks of use or less,” she says. ![]() “This is also known as drug tolerance,” he writes.įor this reason, Cash says discontinuing sleeping meds requires slowly tapering down the dose, rather than stopping immediately, and should be supervised by a doctor. To make matters worse, when you stop taking some sleeping pills, they can cause “rebound insomnia” which makes it even more difficult to fall asleep.Īs Walker explains in his book, the brain responds to drugs by trying to become less sensitive and alters its balance of receptors, creating a type of dependency. In late April, the Food and Drug Administration put a black box warning - the agency’s most severe label - on three of the most popular insomnia drugs : eszopiclone (Lunesta), zaleplon (Sonata), and zolpidem (Ambien.) The FDA logged 66 incidents of semi-conscious behavior after taking the drugs, such as sleepwalking or driving asleep, that resulted in serious injury or death.īut these so-called Z drugs don’t work much better than a placebo, according to a 2012 meta-analysis of about 4,400 patients across 13 studies. Though losing sleep is undoubtedly dangerous, some prescription sleep aids also come with rare but serious side effects. “When individuals experience disruptions in these rhythms over the long-term (many years), this can lead to changes in physical health and contribute to the development of disorders like obesity, diabetes and cancer,” Cash says.Ĭircadian rhythms are so important that the disruptions caused by working a late-night shift makes certain jobs likely carcinogens, according to the World Health Organization. She says patients with disrupted rhythms have worse overall survival rates than patients who maintain more regular cycles. Liz Cash, an assistant professor at the University of Louisville, studies circadian rhythms in people with cancer. Some commercially-available supplements have issues with quality control as well.īut keeping our circadian rhythms regular can have important health implications. The hormone may not actually induce better sleep, though, and the effects are modest at best. It has become popular among those looking for a good night’s rest. Melatonin signals our brains that it’s dark out, and to prepare for sleep. Melatonin is produced by the body, and it’s part of our circadian rhythms, internal cycles of alertness and drowsiness that operate on a roughly 24-hour timetable. Other people opt for a different route with melatonin, a hormone that tells our brains it’s time to sleep. Feeling sluggish the next day might lead people to consume more caffeine, making sleep difficult and perpetuating the cycle. These hypnotic drugs can actually restrict the deeper brain waves produced during REM sleep, leading to grogginess and forgetfulness the following morning. ![]() While taking drugs like Ambien may help you become unconscious, sedation is not the same as sleep. As neuroscientist and “sleep diplomat” Matthew Walker explains in his 2017 bestseller Why We Sleep : “Sleeping pills do not provide natural sleep, can damage health, and increase the risk of life-threatening diseases.” Low levels of GABA have also been linked to insomnia and anxiety.īut sleeping pills might not be the best path to a healthier relationship with sleep. Almost every drug that makes you drowsy, from barbiturates to benzos to valerian root to alcohol, utilizes this chemical. GABA helps to quiet down the activity of neurons in our brains, and it’s an important part of our sleep cycles. ![]() All sleep aids work in essentially the same way, by boosting production of a neurotransmitter known as GABA. ![]()
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