Be Careful with Sleep and Sedatives

If you have trouble sleeping, are anxious or experience stress, a doctor may prescribe sleep and sedatives. The most commonly prescribed drugs in this category are benzodiazepines.

Although sleep and sedatives can help during difficult times and relieve symptoms, they do not address the underlying cause. Because of their high addiction potential, they can also cause additional problems.

Don't use sleep aids or tranquilizers for too long because you may become accustomed to them or dependent on them. They can cause memory or concentration problems and mask depression. In addition, they reduce your alertness while driving, which is prohibited by law if you use these drugs. In the elderly, sleep aids can also cause falls when they get up at night.

Short-Term Risks of Sleep and Sedatives

• Reduced concentration and reaction time: This increases the risk of traffic and other accidents, especially in the elderly.
• Increased dejection and anxiety.
• Overdose: Taking too much can lead to loss of consciousness, coma or respiratory arrest.
• Dangerous combination with alcohol: Both are narcotics and together they have an amplified effect far greater than the sum of their individual effects.

Long-term Risks of Sleep and Sedatives

Long-term use of benzodiazepines leads to accumulation of active ingredients in the body, which can cause unpleasant side effects:

• Physical symptoms: Headache, memory loss, fatigue, blurred vision, drowsiness, sluggishness, dizziness and gloom. Decreased desire for sex is also common.
• Memory Gaps: Long-term use reduces the ability to handle stress and react alertly.
• Changes in personality: Positive feelings become numb, life seems flat and colorless, and one becomes indifferent, making it more difficult to address the original symptoms.
• Opposite reactions in the elderly and children: Sleep and sedatives can actually make them restless, which is also true for people who are naturally anxious or aggressive.
• Depression: Benzodiazepines do not help depression and may actually hide or cause it.

Addiction

After six to eight weeks of use, dependence on benzodiazepines develops. Quitting then becomes difficult due to both physical and mental dependence:

• Physical dependence: The body gets used to a certain dose, requiring higher and higher doses for the same effect, also called tolerance.
• Mental dependence: People think that without sleeping pills they can't sleep or without tranquilizers they wouldn't dare go out the door.

Withdrawal symptoms

Quitting after prolonged use is difficult: the suppressed problems may return violently and unpleasant withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety disorders, insomnia, confusion, hallucinations and nightmares may occur. Gradual phasing out under the supervision of a physician is therefore essential.Quitting after prolonged use is difficult: the suppressed problems may return violently and unpleasant withdrawal symptoms such as anxiety disorders, insomnia, confusion, hallucinations and nightmares may occur. Gradual phasing out under the supervision of a physician is therefore essential.