April 10, 2023 Puzzle Piece
Use of sleeping pills increases dementia risk, new study finds
It’s
easy to see why the practice of simply popping a pill to fall asleep
faster is a growing trend. Life is stressful and full of daily
challenges. Who would want to deal with another issue—like not falling
asleep easily?
A sleep prescription is a quick and easy answer, and doctors are quick to oblige.
But if consumers knew all the risks that came with the convenience, they might decide on a different tactic.
The latest published study concluded the use of common sleeping
medications increases the risk of developing dementia a few years later.
The dementia link was made not only with popular sleeping medications
like Benzos and Ambien, but also with common antidepressants that are
often prescribed as sleep aids.
Widespread problem
Sleep disorders—including trouble falling asleep or staying asleep—are
widespread in the U.S. Different surveys conducted in the past two
decades report a wide variance in the percentage of Americans who rely
on sleep prescriptions; however, a recent report by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) places the number at 18 percent.
The NCHS, which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
reported that those who say they take sleep medication “most nights”
was 6% of the population; those who reported using sleep medicine “every
night” was 2%; and those reporting “some nights” was 10%.
The NCHS report, which was based on 2020 data, also found that more
women than men take sleep medication, and usage overall increased with
age.
Dementia study details
The new study was conducted at the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF), and was published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease in
January 2023. To conduct the study authors analyzed data on 3,000 older
adults who were dementia-free and lived outside of nursing homes.
All of the study-subjects were part of the much broader
Study participants’ average age was 74 years-old, and the average time they were tracked was nine years.
Over the course of the study, 20 percent of those participants developed
dementia; however, there was a substantial difference between Black and
White study subjects.
White participants who “often” or “almost always” took sleep medications
displayed a whopping 79-percent higher risk of developing dementia in
comparison to those who “never” or “rarely” used sleeping pills.
Meanwhile,
among Black participants specifically, a group whose consumption of
sleep aids in general was markedly lower, frequent users didn’t appear
all that more likely to develop dementia in comparison to those who
abstained completely or rarely used sleep medications.
The researchers postulated that the differences may be attributed to
socio-economic status; or, since each medication carries a different
relative risk, the preference between Blacks and Whites for different
brands may partly explain the reason.
Lead author Dr Yue Leng, PhD, from the UCSF Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences noted
future studies could “provide further clarity on the cognitive risks or
rewards of sleep medications, as well as the influence of one’s race.”
In addition to proper risk assessment the researchers noted it’s
probably a smart idea to simply “avoid these medications whenever
possible”—and first try non-drug approaches to address the issue.
Drug-free ways to sleep better
The CDC website offers some basic lifestyle behavior modifications to make before reaching for a bottle of pills:
• Be consistent. Go to bed at the same time each night and get up at the same time each morning, including weekends.
• Make sure your bedroom is quiet, dark, relaxing, and at a comfortable temperature.
• Remove electronic devices such as TVs, computers, and phones out of the bedroom.
• Avoid large meals, caffeine, and alcohol before bedtime. Don’t use tobacco.
• Exercise regularly. Being physically active during the day can help you fall asleep more easily at night.
These are just beginning steps anyone can do to embark on a journey to
better sleep. Herbs and other nutrients can also help improve sleep
quality. See list at the bottom of this page for more information.
Some nutritional supplement blends, like Optimal Calm from Optimal Health Systems, are designed to provide nutrients to help users achieve “sleep continuity.”
While most sleep aid products are designed to help you fall asleep faster, Optimal Calm is designed to help you stay asleep so you can benefit from the restorative period of sleep known as REM sleep.
Learn more by clicking the banner ad on this page, or by following this link.
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Sources: Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (IOSPress.com), CDC.gov.
Nutrients known to support sleep continuity:
Nutritional support for sleep disorders can be found in a number of research-backed nutrients.
• Valerian root, perhaps the best known of herbal sleep
aids, dates back over two thousand years to the Greek and Roman
Empires. It was noted by Hippocrates, who recommended if for headaches,
nervousness, trembling, and heart palpitations.
• L-Tryptophan is an amino acid found in most
proteins—both animal and plant. It is essential in humans, meaning that
the body cannot synthesize it and it must be obtained from the diet. It
is perhaps the most widely researched and accepted nutrient to help calm
the body, and is found in many natural sleep aids.
• Chamomile flower is a perennial herb that has been
shown to promote a relaxed and calming state of mind which helps the
body fall asleep faster. These benefits may be attributed to an
antioxidant called apigenin. Apigenin binds to specific receptors in the
brain that help decrease anxiety and initiate sleep.
• Lemon balm is another sleep herb with a history dating back over 2,000 years. It is listed in the Historia Plantarum,
dated to around 300 BC. Today it is the main ingredient of Carmelite
water, which is still for sale in German pharmacies. Research shows it
has a calming and sleep-promoting effect, which is achieved in part by
increasing GABA levels.
• Hops extract, an essential ingredient in beer
brewing, has been used medicinally since medieval times. Early
physicians observed that hops pickers tired very easily during the
harvest and assumed that a sticky resin excreted by the cut plant caused
this effect. Modern studies have corroborated these early observations.
Read more Sleep Health articles on Optimal Health Insider here.
Yours in Health and Wellness,
OHS and John W Brimhall, DC, BA, BS, FIAMA, DIBAK
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