THURSDAY, Dec. 29, 2016 (HealthDay Information) -- Individuals fighting insomnia typically flip to non-prescription sleep cures which may be habit-forming and are solely supposed for short-term use, based on a brand new Client Stories survey.
The survey discovered that 18 % of people that mentioned they'd taken such over-the-counter medication previously yr did so each day. And 41 % mentioned they'd taken them for a yr or longer.
"We had been shocked to see so many individuals taking so many over-the-counter sleep aids, and doing a lot longer than they had been presupposed to," mentioned Lisa Gill, deputy content material editor of Client Stories Finest Purchase Medication.
The medication in query embrace Advil PM and Tylenol PM -- ache relievers or chilly formulation that comprise sleep aids -- in addition to straight sleep cures like Nytol, Merely Sleep, Sominex, Unisom SleepMinis and ZzzQuil, based on the survey.
The energetic sleep support in all these medication is diphenhydramine, a decades-old antihistamine supposed for short-term use, Gill mentioned.
"It is actually meant to deal with allergy symptoms, however a facet impact is drowsiness," Gill mentioned.
Such common use might put folks prone to negative effects from both diphenhydramine or different components additionally contained within the over-the-counter medication, she mentioned.
"The directions are fairly clear" concerning diphenhydramine, Gill mentioned. "You do not need to take it for longer than two weeks at a time. There's a complete host of causes for that."
Medicines containing diphenhydramine may cause constipation, dizziness, daytime drowsiness or confusion, placing an individual in danger for accidents, Gill mentioned.
Additionally, some research have linked diphenhydramine to an elevated danger of creating dementia or Alzheimer's illness, Gill mentioned. "That is the scary half," she mentioned, because the antihistamine has been out there to the general public for a really very long time.
Sleep professional Dr. Raj Dasgupta mentioned he is additionally involved that persons are taking medicines to induce drowsiness that comprise different energetic components.
"It is scary that folks will take these medicines for his or her sleeping results," mentioned Dasgupta, an assistant professor with the College of Southern California Keck Faculty of Drugs, and a fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Drugs. "They often do not understand they're getting different medicines together with the sleep support."
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