Cox News Service
WASHINGTON - Too many people rely on sleeping pills and use them
for too long, according to the September edition of Consumer
Reports.
A nationwide survey by the magazine in April found that 44
percent of Americans are problem sleepers, meaning they have
trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or wake up too early at
least eight nights per month.
The survey of 1,466 adults, conducted by the magazine's National
Research Center, also found that one in five Americans took
prescription or over-the-counter drugs at least once a week to help
them sleep and 24 percent became dependent on the medication they
used.
Last year, 24 million prescriptions were written for the four
best selling sleep drugs. The two most heavily advertised
prescription drug campaigns last year - at a cost of $500 million -
were sleep aids Lunesta and Ambien CR.
"What people don't realize is these medications can pose a host
of side effects including daytime drowsiness, even bizarre behavior
like sleep-walking, sleep-eating, and sleep-driving," Tod (((cq)))
Marks, senior editor at Consumer Reports, said in a statement.?
A parallel survey analyzing the experiences of 2,021 problem
sleepers found sound machines to be a viable alternative to drugs,
with 70 percent of those who tried them saying they helped most
nights. A sound machine is a stereo device that emits various
noises meant to help gently coax a person to sleep. The noises can
range from basic static to the sounds of a heartbeat or rainforest.
The magazines assembled a dozen panelists who tested three
machines, ranging from $20 to $129.
The magazine report also suggested alternatives to drugs such as
muscle relaxation, changing mattresses, avoiding food and alcohol
before bedtime and keeping a steady bedtime and wake-up time.
Hadas Gold may be e-mailed at hgoldcoxnews.com