Be Cautious When Using Sleeping Pills

Happy New Year! How was your rest last night? I know I’m an insomniac at times, and I’ll be the first to admit that I rely on sleeping pills from time to time. Today’s article is about sleeping pills, especially the dangers of their overuse. My hope is that after going through this article, you can still sleep soundly. Let’s begin with some background.

We all know that sleeping pills have a reputation of helping people get some peace and quiet at night.  Their appeal lies in the idea that they combat sleep deprivation, which is hard to manage since it can drain one’s energy to do the more important things in life, at work and at home. Of course, not everyone uses them.

Rather, chronic insomniacs who desperately need to get that well-deserved rest are more likely to use them. Before that, it is common for insomniacs to try and fall asleep by flipping over TV channels – to no avail of course. But if you go into an insomniac’s mind, the hope is to fall asleep and get some good rest, even if it means wasting electricity.

While it might work initially, this tactic usually does not work after a few nights. That means dealing with the agony of being awake the whole night and even to the wee hours of the morning. In the modern world, couple this with the real-life need to work makes it a deadly combo. I still remember a few years ago when I wasn’t working – insomnia would be inconsequential. But now having a full-time job makes the situation vastly different.

Studies show that people who are prone to stress and other everyday worries are the ones who would most likely resort to the use of sleeping pills. This also makes sense given that stress and anxiety can lead to insomnia.

And we all know that long-term use of sleeping pills could cause unwanted side effects or health problems. That is why some sleeping pills have labels that state that it is not to be used for more than one night. Here are some of the issues that might occur for users and, more often than not, abusers of sleeping pills.

The first point is that continuous use of sleeping pills can reduce brain cell activity, affect short-memory term and cause what can essentially be described as hangovers. The aftermath of taking these sedatives may seem manageable, but in the long run these effects may snowball into more severe issues such us forgetfulness and lack of focus. This is bad from a worker’s perspective – obviously.

The next point is that dependence may form. Think about it – the body forms its natural defense through the production of antibodies, right? In the same way, our human body can also develop resistance, or even immunity to drugs, including sleeping pills. Subsequently, users would have to take higher doses to get the same effect.

Finally, the most morbid point is death. Uncommon, but it can happen. Research has shown that people who use sleeping pills have higher mortality rates than those who don’t. As sedatives, sleeping pills tend to lengthen the pauses in breathing when one is asleep.  This situation can jeopardise the health of people with sleep apnoea.  This is no joke.

To round it all off, there is a saying that “we can buy la uxurious bed but we can never purchase a good night’s sleep”. For many of us, myself included, the struggle goes on. While we have to do what we do to get a good nights’ rest, we must always exercise caution. Want to get more educated about this? Check out the resources below.

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