As a sleep physician, I am constantly confronted with sleeping pills and the misunderstanding that seems to be inherent to their existence. While I do feel like there are specific instances where sleeping pills are helpful, I think the vast majority of sleep experts and behavioral sleep therapists would generally frown upon their use. In this episode, we will cover:why I feel sleeping pills are largely unnecessary, particularly given the fact that everyone sleeps (Episode 2)to whom these pills are marketed and how ad prey upon fear of sleeplessness as a means to create a market for their productthe surprisingly modest sleep improvement results (sleep latency, sleep efficiency) these medications produce and how these stand in direct opposition to what the average user thinks is happeningthe risk of sleeping pillshow the relevance of these promoted benefits is of unclear significancefailure of sleeping pill research to prove health or performance benefitsthe repetitive history of the sleeping pill cycle and how history has judged the fate of many that have come beforeProduced by: Maeve WinterMore Twitter: @drchriswinter IG: @drchriwinter Threads: @drchriswinter Bluesky: @drchriswinter The Sleep Solution and The Rested Child Thanks for listening and sleep well!

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

Transcript

Related