Are Your Employees Taking Sleeping Pills?

There’s a good chance they are. In Feb 2016, Consumer Reports reported that one-third of survey respondents had tried either a sleep drug (such as Ambien, which requires a prescription, or Sominex, which does not) or a dietary supplement (especially melatonin) at least once in the previous year. 41% of people who use over-the-counter sleep aids reported taking them for a year or longer and 48% use the drugs several times per week. (https://www.consumerreports.org/sleep/why-americans-cant-sleep/)

Unfortunately, sleeping pills are not a cure for insomnia. They’re not even very effective. The National Institute of Health found that sleeping pills reduced time to fall sleep by just 10 minutes and increased overall sleep time by 10 minutes. The Harvard Medical school documented slightly more effective results—  time to fall asleep decreased by 20 minutes. That’s not very much.

Why do people think they work?

Because the drugs create an amnesiac effect. People think they sleep more, because they don’t remember being awake. If you want to see what that looks like in action, google “Ambien sleep eating.” It’s not pretty!

Is it ever ok to use sleeping pills?

I’m hosting a complimentary sleep habits webinar on March 15th, where I’ll be talking more about sleeping pills, their side effects, and the one time it’s ok to take them.

If you want to know more about addressing the root behavioral and psychological causes of insomnia, pop over here to register: https://sharonlipinski.com/sleep-habits-webinar