“I would really want to see more evidence on that one,” Leavey says. Though the results are concerning, they don’t necessarily mean that these drugs definitely cause negative side effects. People who took prescription sleeping pills were more likely to die or get cancer than those who did not take them, according to a 2012 study published in BMJ Open. If I give you a drug that dulls that system, you’ll fall down.” Older patients are particularly at risk for this problem with sleeping pills, he adds. You have sensors on your feet that constantly measure your center of gravity and where you are. “Your entire body is balanced on two little feet. “Falling is absolutely a problem,” Leavey says. Hospital patients who took zolpidem were four times more likely to fall than those who did not take the drug during their hospital stay, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Hospital Medicine. RELATED: 8 Natural Ways to Treat Chronic Poor Sleep “You can have problems when you use them longer than 7 to 10 days.” “If you have a short-term sleep disorder - a need to re-establish normal sleep patterns - that’s a clear reason to use these medications,” Leavey says. ![]() To minimize your risk for this side effect, don’t take sleeping pills for longer than a week or two. But, if you take a high enough dose, this could lead to depressed breathing while you sleep, which can cause death. When you take prescription sleeping pills over a long period of time, your body grows accustomed to the drug, and you need higher and higher doses to get the same sleep-inducing effect. “But when you use them improperly, you can have problems.” Before you turn to medication to help you sleep, read up on these possible problems with sleeping pills. “They’re fairly safe and well-tolerated,” Dr. Though they do have legitimate uses, sleeping pills also come with significant risks and side effects, which many people don’t realize, says Marc Leavey, MD, a doctor of internal medicine at MD Mercy Hospital in Baltimore. ![]() On the surface, prescription sleep aids can seem like the perfect cure for insomnia: Take a pill, and a few minutes later you slip into a restful sleep.
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