Look in anyone’s medicine cabinet and you will find prescription sleeping pills- such as Ambien, or Lunesta. They seem to be a part of the busy life that we lead. In fact we don’t think twice about taking them. We assume that they are a regular drug, and that has been perfectly approved by the FDA. Well a new study may make you think twice before reaching for that sleeping pill to get that “good” Night of Sleep.
A new study has linked common sleeping pills such as Ambien, Lunesta, Sonata and sedative antihistamines to a higher risk of death.
According to a Study by the Medical Online Journal BMJ Open, Researchers who followed 10,500 patients found that certain sleeping pills and sedatives are associated with a more than fourfold increased risk of death.
The researchers compared the longevity of people in rural Pennsylvania who took those drugs between 2002 and 2007 with the survival of those who had not been prescribed the pills — taking into account age, sex, lifestyle factors, and underlying health problems.
For example, there were 265 deaths among 4,336 people taking Ambien, compared with 295 deaths among the 23,671 people who had not taken the pills.
Additional Reading Resources
- Choose the Best Neck pillow for Better Sleep
- Sleep Like a Baby Tonight : Getting Good ZZZ’s is not So Hard to To !
- When Sleep Can be Deadly
- 6 ways to Get Better Sleep
- Simple Tips To Sleep
Sleeping medications have been noted to have some negative side effects but I never thought it would be this worst to the point of decreasing a person’s life age. People should be reading this.
I read the study on Medscape this morning and the first thing I thought was “what is driving people to use sleep aids?”
The top reasons on my quick list were:
1. Emotional Stress
2. Physical Pain
As a chiropractor, I can help the second reason directly. If back, shoulder or neck pain is reducing your recuperative sleep, then it is time you see a chiropractor and get some relief.