Sexsomnia Is A Side Effect Of Sleep Drugs?

Hadley Finch April 21, 2016 Food Is Medicine, Guest expert shares healthy living advice Leave a comment

Sexsomnia, having sex without remembering it, is a risky side effect of
prescription sleep drugs. Other risky and embarrassing side effects include
sleep driving, sleep walking, sleep eating, sleep texting, sleep tweeting.

Tiny Pills, Big Risks

Wellness expert, Dr. Joseph Mercola, says that a startling study published in 2012 revealed that people who take sleeping pills not only have a 35 percent higher risk for certain cancers, they’re also nearly four times as likely to die as people who don’t take them.

Remarkably, this association held true even if the patients took fewer than 18 sleeping pills in a year (equating to reaching for a sleeping pill just once every three weeks).

Other health risks associated with sleeping pills include:

* Increased risk for insulin resistance, food cravings, weight gain and diabetes
* Amnesia, even of events that occurred during the day
* Depression, confusion, disorientation, and hallucinations
* Increased risk of accidents. Studies submitted to the FDA reveal blood levels of zolpidem (found in Ambien and other sleeping pills) above 50 ng/mL may impair your driving to a degree that increases the risk of an accident, especially among women.5 Sleep aids that contain Benadryl can have a half life of about 18 hours, so if you take them every night, you’re basically sedated for a large portion of the day as well, resulting in cognitive deficits and accident proneness
* Increased risk for dementia in seniors (anti-cholinergics)

What are safer, risk-free ways to fall asleep and stay asleep?