Several medical organizations, advocacy groups, and policymakers have also strongly discouraged the use of these drugs to treat insomnia due to potential adverse outcomes associated with their use. There are highly effective behavioral treatments available that are growing in popularity.

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An earlier study by some of the same researchers found that prescriptions for benzodiazepines, or BZDs, a class of drugs to treat anxiety and insomnia that includes diazepam (Valium) and alprazolam (Xanax), and non-BZDs, a similar class of medications including zolpidem (Ambien), climbed 69% and 140%, respectively, between 1993 and 2010.

Researchers believe that there are multiple reasons for the rise, including direct-to-consumer marketing, particularly with the emergence of Ambien in the early 1990s. The greater awareness of the importance of sleep to general health also played a critical role.

Health Effects of Long-Term Sleeping Pill Use

The study analyzed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, conducted every two years. Participants were asked to bring drugs they had used in the previous month or a pharmacy printout to their visits with researchers, who also inquired about the reason medication was being used. Researchers focused on medications specifically used for insomnia and other transient sleep difficulties.

While the use of sleep medications dropped across all drug classes, the study found the strongest decrease in FDA-approved medications, which fell by 55%.

The study noted that BZDs and other hypnotics have been associated with the risk of motor vehicle accidents, memory impairment, and, in older groups, falls and hip fractures. Indeed, in 2019 the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration required the placement of a black box warning on prescriptions of non-BZD hypnotics such as eszopiclone (Lunesta), zolpidem (Ambien), and zaleplon (Sonata).

Behavioral treatments for insomnia are increasingly encouraged by physicians. The gold standard is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, a program involving multiple visits to a sleep specialist to change behaviors or poor habits that cause sleep loss.

But access to such care can be limited because of a dearth of providers. Digital therapeutics” has grown in popularity. This is software accessed on a smartphone or computer that offers behavioral techniques to treat insomnia without a visit to a sleep specialist.

These apps can include a virtual coach teaching lessons on building better sleeping habits and allowing users to track their improvement throughout a multi-week program.

If behavioral treatments fail, medication might be the best option to lessen the health risks associated with chronic insomnia, which include heart disease, high blood pressure, and depression.

There is a stigma attached to being on medication for the long term. But we need to remember there also is a risk with having untreated insomnia. There are ill effects of poor sleep that can’t be ignored.

Source: Medindia