Tragic stories involving the abuse of prescription sleeping pills, amongst others have become all too common. Celebrities have been in the news for mixing these pills with others and it has lead to fatal accidents. Sleeping pills inhibit the potential activity of brain cells, calming both the central nervous system and the brain, leading to a reduced heart and breathing rate. This eventually causes the person to fall asleep but it also affects a person’s thinking, feeling and physical movements. It causes a slower reaction time, memory loss, and poor performance levels.
These pills are highly addictive because the human body naturally develops a need to increase the dosage amount. When stopped cold turkey, they can also cause serious withdrawal problems such as shakiness, panic attacks, nervousness, and anxiety. Most pills have a residual effect, with at least half of the efficiency remaining in the body throughout the day which leads to sleepiness, grogginess, and disorientation. This seems ironic because most people are prescribed sleeping pills to help them sleep for a number of different reasons such as pain from an injury or mental restlessness.
People have been reported doing weird and/or dangerous activities when taking sleeping pills such as walking, sleep eating and driving. Some people have told me that they text or call their friends and don’t recall it or what they said the next day until someone reminds them. Here are some tell tale signs that you are addicted: if you’re depressed or anxious, if you take them even if you don’t need them, if you’ve been increasing the dosage, if you can’t sleep without them, and/or if you feel uneasy if you don’t take them. These are effective for short periods of time to treat symptoms but long term use cause risk of addiction and mental impairment.
It’s OK to take sleeping pills for a few weeks but any longer than a month will cause more sleep problems that it solves. If you are having trouble falling asleep or wake up in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep you may just be stressed out or not physically active enough. There are other alternatives such as natural sleeping pills on the market today that have little or no side effects. It is important to explore your options and not just take the easy way out.
