If you take just 18 sleeping pills in a year – about once every three weeks – you may be more than tripling your risk of death. Researchers in the UK have recently published an alarming study in the British Medical Journal that indicates an increase in mortality of 3.5 times compared to those who take no sleep medication.1

This study followed 10,529 patients taking such commonly-prescribed drugs as Lunesta and Ambien, and also other barbiturates and sedative antihistamines. The study found a risk of death increasing by five times among those who took more than 132 sleeping pills in a year, a group that also experienced a 35% greater risk of cancer, compared to the control group of 23,676 people.

The researchers wrote: “Results were robust within groups suffering each comorbidity, indicating that the death and cancer hazards associated with hypnotic drugs were not attributable to pre-existing disease.”

This is another example of why it is always important to get down to the root cause of your symptoms and not just medicate those symptoms away. The question that needs an answer, is what is causing my insomnia? Is it stress, cortisol, adrenal fatigue, blood sugar problems, hormone imbalance, serotonin deficiency, poor food choices close to sleep, poor sleep hygiene? You find that answer and fix the root cause, then you have restful, restorative sleep without the need for medication. If this is something you are struggling with, come in and let me help you.
1. http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/1/e000850.short?g=w_open_current_tab