31 May 2023 , 16:20
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If you've ever struggled with getting to sleep at night, then you might have reached for some form of sleeping pill to help you drift off to dreamland much faster.
However, according to "staggering" new research, those who take prescription sleeping pills before bed had an eye-opening 55% greater chance of early death compared to those who went to sleep naturally, even if they slept for the same amount of time.
The research, which was conducted by the National Taiwan University, found that life expectancy in those who took sleeping pills was shorter by 5.3 years in men and 5.7 years in women, while the risk was more than doubled in prescription sleeping pill users who got more than eight hours of sleep.
Sleeping without prescription pills is better for your health (stock photo) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)Yu Sun, of the university, said: "Our results are staggering, to say the least. Many people rely on sleeping pills to help them sleep, so it's a shock to find that taking them may more than double your mortality risk.
"We suggest avoiding using sleeping pills as a first-line of treatment for insomnia, and try other methods first."
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According to The Sun, the study was published in the Elsevier journal Sleep Health and involved tracking death risk and life expectancy in 484,916 adults in Taiwan from 1994 to 2011.
The adults were split into four groups - sleeping four hours or less, sleeping four to six hours, sleeping six to eight hours, or sleeping eight hours or more - and were asked if they used prescription sleeping pills to help them sleep, and if so, how often they took them.
Prescription sleeping pills differ from over-the-counter aids such as Nytol because they are stronger and affect the brain in a different way.
And while those who slept for under four hours a night showed very little difference in risk of death, those who slept between four and six hours were 32% more likely to die early if they used prescription sleeping aids.
Professor Kevin McConway, of the Open University, said: "The researchers found that people who took sleeping pills had a higher risk of early death. That could be because the sleeping pills caused the increased risk, but that's far from the only possible explanation for the findings.
"Some other factor might, independently, cause people to be more likely to take sleeping pills, and also increase the risk of early death."
In the UK, sleeping pills are rarely prescribed by GPs because they can have a variety of serious side effects and can even lead to addiction.
The NHS website states: "GPs now rarely prescribe sleeping pills to treat insomnia. Sleeping pills can have serious side effects and you can become dependent on them. Sleeping pills are only prescribed for a few days, or weeks at the most, if: your insomnia is very bad, or other treatments have not worked."
If you are suffering from insomnia, the NHS has useful information that could help. The NHS recommends you see a GP about your sleep if you have had difficulty sleeping for months, or if your insomnia is impacting your daily life in a way that makes it hard for you to cope.