30 Jul This Is Why You Should Not Take Sleeping Pills Every Night
It’s common to turn to a bottle of prescription sleeping pills whenever you feel like it’s taking too long to drift off, but it’s not the best idea. This bedtime habit carries a lot more negative risks and consequences than benefits for your health. If you want to know why you should not be taking sleeping pills every night, please read the following.
Sleeping pills are often taken as a quick solution by people who are suffering from insomnia and deprivation. They will create some short-lived relief by putting the person in a state of uninterrupted unconsciousness — they sedate you but do not help you reach a state of deep and restorative sleep. Pills are used on a regular basis because people ignore the root of their sleeping problems, like medical conditions, emotional distress and discomfort. Medical practitioners have found that people use sleeping pills to treat the wrong condition all of the time, assuming they have chronic insomnia when they are actually suffering from sleep apnea. The two are often conflated because sleep apnea causes people to repeatedly wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble drifting off again.
If you are aware that you have sleep apnea and not insomnia, you should still avoid sleeping pills. The medication will relax the muscles of the throat, tongue and soft palate, making it easier for the airway to be obstructed. The relaxation will worsen your breathing and prevent oxygen from reaching the brain so that you feel exhausted in the morning. Pills will also exacerbate common symptoms associated with sleep apnea, like gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Instead of looking at the prescription bottle before going to bed, you should get a CPAP machine in Barrie to give you a restful night of sleep — a continuous positive airway pressure machine will help your airway stay clear and oxygen reach your brain. If you don’t live in Barrie, you can find a source for CPAP machines in Mississauga and other locations across Ontario, like Milton, Vaughan and Toronto.
There is no need to worry about the CPAP therapy machine being more physically distracting than helpful because sales representatives will find you the masks and accessories that will work best with you. For instance, there are a number of ResMed CPAP masks in Toronto that have features to maximize your comfort like ultra-lightweight frames, slim straps, butterfly wing forehead supports, and customizations for men and women. There are accessories like nasal cushions, lifts and contour pillows that can also satisfy your specific needs.
If you are not convinced to abandon them for their inefficacy or their impact on your sleep apnea, you should know that sleeping pills have serious side effects that could affect your daily life and even put your life at risk:
- Prescription sleeping pills were designed for short-term relief and not as a daily medication for sleeplessness, and going beyond a few days of use could put you at risk for dependency or addiction. Dependency will raise your tolerance level, pushing you to take more for results and setting up the possibility of an overdose.
- Heightened tolerance will also mean that you could unknowingly cause yourself to be drowsy and sluggish throughout the day. This will affect your motivation at work, your communication in relationships and your ability to safely drive a car.
- Researchers have discovered that sleeping pills have the potential to shorten one’s life depending on the dosage.
You can conquer your insomnia without popping a pill every single night of the week. A combination of alternatives like continuous positive airway pressure therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, improved bed hygiene and meditation will help you get to sleep without gambling with your health.