A drug used by a lot of people can shorten your life by almost 6 years. The warning of the specialists
A pill used for a problem that affects a lot of people could shorten their lives by up to six years, warns doctors, after a study that has discovered a significantly increased risk among people who use it.
Sleeping pills can increase the risk of premature death photo archive
Nowadays, there are a lot of tricks for a better sleep, but if it is late, the classic solution remains: sleeping pills.
There are several types of sleep -based sleeping pills, which help a person relax and become sleepy. The most common are benzodiazepines and antihistamines, which stimulate the signals that indicate the brain that it is time to “close” at night. But, as in the case of any medicine, the sleeping pills come with side effects, from drowsiness during the day to concentration issues, writes parade.com.
Although most side effects of sleeping pills are temporary, now there seems to be one with a much more serious impact. Research published in the journal Sleep Health (Elsevier) have discovered a connection between the use of sleeping pills and the increased risk of premature death.
What has the study discovered
The authors of the study analyzed the risk of mortality and life expectancy of 484,916 people (average age of 40.3 years, over half women), between 1994 and 2011. The participants were questioned about the quality of sleep, the duration of sleep and the use of sleeping pills.
Medical tests have excluded any pre -existing conditions that could have influenced the risk of premature death. Depending on their sleep program, people were divided into four categories: extremely short sleep (less than 4 hours a night); short sleep (4-6 hours a night); average sleep (6-8 hours per night); Long sleep (over 8 hours a night).
Those who did not use sleeping pills and slept regularly between 6 and 8 hours a night had the lowest mortality risk, compared to those who slept less than 4 hours or more than 8 hours. But an interesting aspect was that the people who slept between 6 and 8 hours, but took sleeping pills, had a 55% higher risk of mortality than non -users.
“Our results are, at least, shocking. Many people rely on sleeping pills so they can fall asleep, so it's a shock to find out that they can more than double the risk of mortality,” Says Dr. Yu Sun, a doctor and researcher at the EN CHU Kong Hospital in Taiwan, who led the study, in a press release.
The authors also noticed that sleeping pills have a lower life expectancy than non -users: in men, 5.3 years younger, and in women, 5.7 years younger. Also, sleeping sleeping users had a higher rate of cancer deaths compared to those who slept 6-8 hours a night without sleeping pills.
How to affect the sleeping pills of mortality
Sleep scientists do not know for sure if sleeping pills are directly responsible for increasing the risk of death. Dr. Emma Lin, pneumologist and sleeping medicine specialist in Readyo2, says that people who need sleeping pills usually have other health problems, such as depression, anxiety or respiratory disorders – all associated, with poor health and an increased risk of death.
However, if sleeping pills are really guilty, doctors have a few theories about how this could happen.
First of all, many sleeping pills are benzodiazepines (such as Klonopin or Xanax), a type of drug that slows brain. Dr. Ruchir Patel, Sleep Medicine and Owner of The Insomnia and Sleep Institute of Arizona, says that the long -term use of benzodiazepines is associated with memory problems and decreased concentration. They can also change the emotional states and behavior of people.
“These effects can contribute indirectly to increasing the risk of mortality, affecting daily operation and increasing the risk of accidents, especially in the elderly,” explains Dr. Patel.
Also, other researches have linked the use of benzodiazepines to increase mortality in people under 65.
Dr. Patel warns that benzodiazepine users generally have 66% higher chances to become hospitalized or die. “When benzodiazepines are combined with non-benzodiazepinic receptor agonists, the chances of serious health results are almost quadruple,” he adds.
The conclusions of the study
Although the results of the study are worrying, there are some important limitations that need to be taken into account before throwing the drugs.
First of all, the authors only observed the behavior of people and how it could influence the risk of mortality. The higher death rate could be caused by an undiagnosed disease, not necessarily by sleeping pills.
Secondly, the study was based on the memories of the participants in their sleep habits, and memory can be imprecise.
Third, although the questionnaires were completed annually, only the results of the first visit were used in calculations. It is possible that sleep habits and the use of sleeping pills may have changed in the meantime.
Dr. Lin recommends that you talk to your doctor before stopping sleeping pills: “The renunciation on one's own is risky. Certain sleeping pills must be gradually interrupted, otherwise sleep may become even more problematic.”
He adds that when working with patients, he tries to find the real cause of insomnia: “Is it stress? Is it sleep apnea, that is, they do not breathe correctly during the night? Do they have pulmonary problems that make their breath difficult when they are stretched? If we know the cause, we can treat the real problem, not just to mask it with a pill.”
