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Sleeping pills have become a way of life for an amazing number of women trying to survive and compete in today's world. Whether they're overworked short-order cooks with a family of five to support, Bluetooth-enabled businesswomen with the responsibility for multimillion-dollar companies, critical-care nurses in high-tech hospitals with patients' lives on the line, or graphic artists working an extra shift at the local grocery store to put their kids through college, the fact is that women are working harder than they ever have before. Unfortunately, sleep is one of those things that often doesn't get with the program.The trouble is, since there are so many sleep aids available -- benzodiazepines, non-benzodiazepines, melatonin agonists, and even antidepressants and antihistamines -- each with its own level of potency and side effects, it's important to find which one is best for you.
"Sleep meds can be quite beneficial," says Lawrence J. Epstein, M.D., recent president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, author of The Harvard Medical School Guide to a Good Night's Sleep, and medical director of the Harvard-affiliated Sleep HealthCenters. "They tend to be most helpful in people with short-term problems."
Your mother dies, you get fired from a job, you're going through a nasty divorce -- that's where they can help. Just for a night or two until you get on a more even keel. Unfortunately, that's not how most of us use them. Studies show that most people who take sleeping pills take them for two years. And a full third take them for five.
"People want a quick fix rather than a true fix," explains Dr. Epstein. Sleep hygiene strategies, like getting to bed at the same time every night, getting up at the same time every day, and only staying in bed while you're asleep are powerful. And studies show that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is just as effective as a pill -- plus its effects last a lot longer.
"But CBT needs a commitment," says Dr. Epstein. To a series of meetings. To a series of lifestyle changes. And people don't want to do either.
"The hardest thing in medicine is to get someone to make a lifestyle change," he admits ruefully. But the thing is, you have to do it. "If no one else is going to bed or everyone else is going out dancing, you have to say, 'My biological clock says I need to sleep.' "
In a study of 277 teens, researchers found that 14.9 percent of kids ages 13 to 17 have used sleep meds at least once.
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