Desperate desire to fall asleep makes the thought of sleeping pills seductive, even if the person realizes how hard it will be for him the next day. Surprisingly, many “effective” drugs increase the duration of sleep by only 20–40 minutes! The most striking results of the study of the action of such nebenzodiazepine, as zaleplon (sonata). It turned out that although he shortened the time of falling asleep to insignificant 11–12 minutes, he did not increase the total duration of sleep! 13 Consequently, after taking a slaploon, the patients fell asleep faster, but slept less than without him. Despite this, Zaleplon received a license and is still popular.
Early awakening
The fact that most sleeping pills shorten the time of falling asleep, not a long sleep duration in general, has a pharmacological explanation. Many people taking triazolam, zaleplon, zolpidem, zopiclone and eszopiclone, fall asleep quickly, but wake up very early in the morning, in a very restless state, which manifests as anxiety or a weak panic attack.
These drugs are suitable for people who have difficulty falling asleep, but not for those who, having woken up, cannot fall asleep again. Large doses of sleeping pills allow you to quickly switch off, but such drugs do not last long, completely leaving the bloodstream in just a few hours. For this reason, it is believed that they do not cause morning hangover. However, the problem is that “breaking up” begins as soon as the sleeping pill is removed from the body early in the morning. It is a drop in the concentration of sleeping pills in the blood that makes a person wake up too early and feel anxiety all the next day.
Mortality
Perhaps the most frightening of sleeping pills is that it increases the risk of death! Thriving increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases, car accidents and cancer14. The mortality rate, which we are talking about now, was calculated from the percentage of people who died and died in the experimental group for a certain time. For those who regularly drank sleeping pills, the mortality rate was much higher. If a person takes a sleeping pill every night for six years, his risk of dying increases by 25%. Surprisingly, even those who take these drugs from time to time have a 15% higher chance of dying in the next six years. Just think about it: if you drink a sleeping pill every night, there is a 25% chance that in six years you will not be.
Daily intake of sleeping pills for 6 years increases the risk of death by 25%.
Effects list
There are three parameters for which the sleeping pill is regarded as effective:
1) It increases the duration of sleep.
2) It helps to fall asleep faster.
3) It improves performance the next day.
Sadly, none of the drugs is effective for all three points.
there. Sleeping pills can fit one parameter, but not all at once. In addition, these drugs have the following side effects:
Sleeping pills reduces the time to sleep only slightly
Does not increase the duration of sleep
May make you wake up earlier than you would wake up without medication.
Does not improve performance the next day.
Causes strong addiction
Causes a bad hangover
Increases risk of serious diseases such as cancer and heart disease. Causes depression and anxiety.
Increases risk of death by 25%.
Causes aggravation of insomnia
Not as effective as adjusting habits
with a dream
Treatment of chronic insomnia with sleeping pills can be compared with treatment of depression with cocaine. When a doctor prescribes a sleeping pill, he treats only a symptom of lack of sleep, not paying any attention to the cause of the problem and the side effects of such therapy. In both cases, the patient may experience addiction. Both the hypnotic and cocaine have monstrous side effects with prolonged use, while their positive effect decreases with time. The ideal result in both cases implies that the person is aware of the danger of such a “treatment” in time and stops until the problem becomes too serious. Thus, without exaggeration, it can be said that the hypnotic and cocaine have almost the same effect and side effects. Of course, if the doctors started prescribing cocaine for depression, there would be a scandal, but for some reason they calmly continue to prescribe a sleeping pill for people suffering from insomnia.