Quick Fix Society
We live in a society that has a pill for everything. Headache? Take a pill. Trying to lose weight? Take a pill. Feeling sad? Take a pill. Trouble sleeping? Take a pill!
I’m not knocking medication. In so many cases medicine makes the difference between life and death. But pharmaceuticals can also be a quick-fix that mask underlying symptoms instead of dealing with the root issue. And sadly, big drug companies do not always have your best interest at heart.
I don’t believe in the use of sleep aids to treat longstanding sleep issues. I’m not saying you shouldn’t take a sleeping pill once in a while if you are going through a stressful or difficult time, such as a death in the family, divorce, or a serious illness. But using pills to treat your chronic sleep problems will not actually cure them and will make them worse in the long run.
The Scary Side Effects:
Lots of people complain of hangover-like symptoms when they take sleeping pills. Headaches. Grogginess, nausea. They also complain of having trouble focusing during the day, their concentration and memory is also impaired, which is a common complaint.
Sleep aids can be highly addictive. This is partly because sleeping pills are meant to be taken short-term. Almost every single sleep aid label will tell you that they are not meant to be taken night after night, and yet millions of people do, and millions of doctors continue to write out the prescriptions.
Benzodiazepines, which is the drug Xanax, is actually an anti-anxiety medication. But they noticed that when they gave it to people with anxiety, it also improved their sleep. However, if you’re on benzodiazepines for 3 to 6 months, there is an increase in the risk of Alzheimer’s by 32 percent. This number jumps to an alarming 84 percent if the medication is taken for more than six months on a regular basis.
Diphenhydramine is the active ingredient in things like ZzzQuil. Now, this actually was used initially to fight allergies, but they discovered that a common side effect was serious or severe drowsiness. They started to implement it as a sleep aid. This can increase the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s. This is according to a 2015 study from the University of Washington. 41 percent of people taking over-the-counter sleep aids for a year or longer had a 41 percent increase in dementia and Alzheimer’s.
The Zolpidem Nightmare. Ambien does something very strange and alarming. It creates this limbo of sleep where a person is not fully awake, but they aren't fully sleeping either. This leads to some really dangerous side effects like sleep eating, sleep driving, sleep shopping, sleep sex, sleep murder, and much more! The package even says you may experience these thing!
A 2015 consumer report found that people taking Ambien an Lunesta went to sleep 20 minutes faster than those who took the placebo... but only added an extra 3 - 34 minutes of sleep!
THREE minutes seems like such a low payoff for such high costs.
If you’re finding you NEED to take medication to sleep, let’s chat! I’m fairly confident we can make some adjustments to your every day life that will promote better and more restful nights!