Sleep well without medication
Are you taking a medication to help you sleep? It could be causing you more harm than good.
Sleeping pills, also known as sedatives or benzodiazepines, may be prescribed when you have trouble sleeping, also known as insomnia.
There are many different sleeping pills. Most sleeping pills work in the same way and have similar side effects. Canadian guidelines recommend that sleeping pills should be used to treat insomnia for no more than four weeks. With time, sleeping pills can become less effective, but the risk of harm remains.
Below are a few examples of harmful effects caused by sleeping pills:
They can have a negative impact on your memory and ability to concentrate.
They can increase your risk of falls and fractures.
They can increase your risk of having a car accident.
Are sleeping pills really worth it? Let’s compare:
Should I stop my sleeping pill or cut down the dose?
Sleeping pills may be helpful for a very short amount of time. After a few weeks, the brain gets used to the effects of sleeping pills and they may stop working as well as when you started taking them. Even when they are not working as well, the risks of harm from sleeping pills remains the same.
As we get older, our risk of experiencing harmful effects from sleeping pills increases. Want to learn more about sleeping pills? Click here to read an educational brochure.
Talk to your pharmacist, doctor or nurse to find out if you can safely stop your sleeping pills. If you stop taking your sleeping pills suddenly, you can have unpleasant withdrawal effects, such as anxiety or irritability. You can reduce or avoid these effects by lowering the dose gradually.
Always check with your healthcare professional before changing or stopping any of your medications.
Sleep well without medication
Getting a good night’s sleep is important. To learn more about habits you can adopt to improve your sleep without taking medication, check out this brochure.
The mysleepwell.ca website is another excellent resource to help you get your sleep back without using medication. Sleepwell offers a list of recommended self-help resources for a type of therapy called CBTi, also known as cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia. CBTi is the recommended first-line treatment for insomnia in Canada.
