More than 13 million Americans take prescription sleeping medications, primarily benzodiazepine tranquilizers (such as Valium®, Klonopin®, and Xanax®) and antidepressants (Elavil® and Sinequan®). The number of people taking readily available over-the-counter (OTC) sleeping pills (antihistamines such as Unisom®, Nytol, and Tylenol® PM) may be even greater. While these drugs may provide a moderate amount of relief for a short period of time, they ultimately do more harm than good.
All types of sleeping “aids” function by sedating or depressing the brain. Benzodiazepines slow the brain waves; antidepressants manipulate the levels of brain chemicals; and OTC drugs block histamine and other chemical reactions in the brain and body. These processes temporarily alleviate insomnia and other sleep disorders. However, most sleeping pills have a deleterious effect on your sleep cycle, increasing the time spent in light, Stage 2 sleep and diminishing the time spent in deep sleep and REM sleep. Deep and REM sleep are required for optimal cerebral, immune, cardiovascular, and mental health. Chronic use of sedative medications impairs these functions and can open the door to illness. All of these drugs may also adversely interact with alcohol and other medications, slowing heart rate and breathing to potentially dangerous levels.
Additionally, sleeping pills, especially tranquilizers and antidepressants, can become addictive. Since the efficacy of all drugs diminishes with use, you’ll require higher and higher dosages in order to feel the sedating effects, fueling the dependency on these drugs. If you stop taking them, you may experience “rebound insomnia,” in which insomnia recurs, often more severely. Rebound insomnia may also disrupt REM sleep, triggering the nightmares.
Regarding the newest longer lasting drugs know at the BzRAs that are advertised to be longer lasting and less addictive. Another side effect to be aware of is what is called the half life of the wide range of BzRAs. This may range from 1 half hour all the way to 36-120 half hours. Half life refers to how long these drugs will remain in your system. Also to take into consideration is how long it takes for the drug to have its effect. This may take anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. There are a new series of drugs that are called Melatonin Receptor Agonists: Ramelton, these are not hypnotics and claim to have less side effects and offer a higher quality of sleep. Addictive qualities may be open to question, but what is not open to question is that at the end of a course of treatment with any sleeping pill you may still experience rebound insomnia, your original problem is back with full force (drugs do not cure, they primarily mask and relieve symptoms) you have spent a great deal of money and it is up to the user to consider whether there goals have been achieved. If you decide that you wish to approach your sleep disorder from a natural holistic point of view, without the use of drugs there is a strong possibility that your problem will be solved and you will have created your own healing.
OTC drugs, even if used for a short time, have many adverse side effects, including drug-induced “hangovers” or stupor. “Research that has investigated performance on mental tasks (such as learning and decision-making) and on motor tasks (such as driving a car) on days after the use of sleeping pills finds that people usually do worse after taking a pill than they do after a night of insomnia,” states sleep expert Russel J. Reiter. The reason this happens is that your body still retains some of the medication the next day and its sedating effects linger. Peter Hauri, Ph.D., director of the Mayo Clinic Insomnia Research and Treatment Program, says this is particularly problematic for older adults—who tend to have more sleep disorders anyway—because they metabolize medications more slowly. OTC drugs can also provoke anxiety, dizziness, restlessness, confusion, amnesia, blurred vision, nausea, digestive upset, and frequent urination.
Patients suffering from sleep apnea are warned not to take any sleeping medications, as they impair the body’s ability to arouse itself and restore normal breathing.
