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Nearly all people suffer from the inability to fall and stay asleep at some time in their lives. It has been estimated that three-fourths of people suffer from sleeplessness on a regular basis for a long period of time, at least three months. Sometimes people have no problem falling or staying asleep but the quality of the sleep is so poor that they wake up feeling unrested.
The effects from lack of restful sleep can affect your relationships, health and even your career if left unchecked. Many prescription medications are available to treat insomnia. However the side effects associated with these medications may prove as harmful as not getting enough high-quality sleep. Most of these medications are made with narcotics and can be habit-forming and highly addictive, leading to tolerance and withdrawal symptoms. People who take them often complain of drowsiness or sluggishness the next day. In a few cases the side effects can include headaches, dizziness, sore throats and muscle pain. Follows is a summary of these dangers in greater details in order to prove the need to find a better alternative to harmful prescription sleep aids.
The most harmful side effect common with prescription sleep aids is the addictive nature of the narcotics used in these drugs. Very quickly someone who takes these prescription medications for insomnia can find themselves dependant on them for any sleep at all. OTC medications have similar effects but the most dangerous are the sleep aids prescribed by doctors. The only way to avoid the side effect of dependency is to avoid using these prescription sleep aids.
Another problem with prescription sleep aids is that they are often created using very strong drug formulas. In order to try and ensure the patient a full night's sleep, these medications are made strong enough to last for at least eight or nine hours at a time. Sometimes it takes a while for the sleepiness that these drugs cause to wear off, leaving you tired and sluggish in the morning. It can take many hours after waking for someone who takes prescription sleep aids to feel fully awake.
Eventually you will want to stop taking a prescription sleep medication to help you sleep. Unfortunately, due to the addictive narcotics, this can be difficult and lead to serious withdrawal symptoms.
Withdrawal symptoms can include:
Headaches
rebound insomnia
spells of dizziness
For this reason, the suggested dose of prescription sleep aids is usually very small although it may be increased as tolerance to the drugs becomes higher.
Due to the dangerous nature of prescription sleep aids, it is in your best interest to research natural over-the-counter, or OTC, alternatives that do not contain addictive ingredients and have no past history of habit forming in people who have taken the medication long term. There are also lifestyle changes that may help with sleeplessness that should be explored before turning to drugs of any kind. Changes in diet and exercise habits may be enough to allow you to get the high-quality full night's sleep that you need.