6 questions about sleeping pills for the elderly

The benefits of taking sleeping pills

"Sleeping pills" are also called sleeping pills, which are the common name for sedative hypnotic drugs. They can treat insomnia, effectively help sleep, improve sleep quality, and increase sleep time. If you sleep well at night, your social functions during the day will be less affected, which improves your quality of life.

If it is only short-term insomnia, taking sleeping pills for a period of time under the guidance of a doctor can prevent it from turning into chronic insomnia. Long-term insomnia will cause more damage to the body, and the so-called five internal organs will not get a good rest, and other diseases will follow. If you can take sleeping pills in a timely and reasonable manner, you will definitely reduce the risk of other diseases.

As they age, the sleep time of the elderly will become shorter and shorter. Many elderly people are diagnosed with some diseases related to insomnia after seeing a doctor and need to take medication for treatment. They often ask whether "sleeping pills" are good or not? How to use them correctly? Here are the six questions that many patients often ask, and give a brief answer.

1. Will long-term use of sleeping pills lead to dependence or addiction?

Old sleeping pills (benzodiazepines, such as alprazolam, lorazepam, diazepam, etc.) may indeed cause drug dependence and addiction if taken improperly for a long time, but it does not mean that taking sleeping pills will lead to addiction.

The solution is to use new sleeping pills (non-benzodiazepine sleeping aids, such as zolpidem, zopiclone, eszopiclone, etc.), which have a fast onset of action, short duration of action, low dependence, and greatly improved safety.

In addition, if the sleeping pills are not effective, you should consider whether the real cause of insomnia has not been solved. If it is caused by anxiety or depression, you should treat and control the primary disease instead of stubbornly dealing with the sleep problem. It is also possible that you have changed the way you take the medicine, which leads to poor efficacy and drug tolerance.

2. Should I try the sleeping pills recommended by my relatives and friends first?

There are many factors that lead to insomnia, whether it is simple or psychological or affected by disease, each person is different in this regard. In addition, the elderly themselves have multiple diseases and are taking other medications, the interaction between these drugs is different, and each person's sensitivity to drugs is also different. Therefore, everyone should receive professional diagnosis and evaluation before discussing which medication to choose.

3. After taking sleeping pills, can I still drink tea or alcohol?

China is a country of etiquette, and the culture of tea and wine has a long history. People will drink a little at banquets with relatives and friends, or at gatherings with good friends. So how should we deal with this?

First of all, it should be noted that tea and alcohol do affect sleeping pills to some extent. Therefore, we can drink tea during the day as much as possible, and not drink it at night, or drink very light tea. As for drinking, we should follow the principle of "don't take medicine when drinking, and don't drink alcohol when taking medicine" (referring to the same night).

4. Is it safer to take Chinese patent medicine?

Many Chinese patent medicines are over-the-counter and easy to buy, which means they are relatively safe. However, if you take multiple Chinese patent medicines at the same time, for example, Zaoren Capsules and Anshenbunao Liquid, two medicines with similar effects, it is considered repeated medication and is completely unnecessary; for example, Tianmeng Oral Liquid and Shufeng Dingtong Pills, which many elderly people may use, both contain Strychnos nux vomica. If you take them together, there may be a risk of Strychnos nux vomica poisoning.

5. Will long-term use of sleeping pills cause Alzheimer’s disease?

So far, there is no clear evidence that sleeping pills can cause Alzheimer's disease, and there is no direct causal relationship between the two. However, it cannot be ruled out that for people who already suffer from Alzheimer's disease, insomnia may be one of the early manifestations of the disease.

6. Do I need to change the sleeping pills from time to time or increase or decrease the dosage?

Doing so is dangerous. If you experience a hangover feeling when you wake up (like you are drunk and at risk of falling) while taking the medicine, you should consult your doctor to see if you should continue taking it or change the medicine. If you feel that the efficacy of the medicine has decreased after long-term use, you should ask a professional doctor to determine whether it is drug tolerance or a change in your condition.