According to a new CDC report, older and educated adults in the United States account for the largest group of people using sleeping pills.
Sleep deprivation leads to heart disease, fluctuations in weight and even hallucinations. Experts recommend a minimum of seven hours of sleep per night for adults. However, with age people find it difficult to get this minimum sleep requirement and often end up turning to sleep medication for help.
In a new CDC report, the organization revealed that 4 percent of all Americans used sleeping pills to get the minimum sleep requirement. Of these, most were women aged 50 and above. Six percent of those aged 50 to 59 admitted to having taken a prescription sleep pill in the last 30 days, and 7 percent of 80 and older reported such use. Five percent of these were women and only 3 percent males. Only 2 percent of people aged between 20 and 39 admitted to taking sleeping pills.
According to CDC researcher Yinong Chong, work and family related stress can be one of the causes why people above the age of 50 don't get sleep at night and turn to medication.
"It gives the picture of a sandwiched group who has family, not only children but also probably elderly parents but still you're likely to be in the workforce, so you get squeezed at both ends in terms of family responsibility and job responsibility," she said.
Researchers also found that 4.4 percent individuals who finished high school and had a degree admitted to using sleeping pills compared to only 3 percent of people who didn't have a degree or finish high school.
According to a Bloomberg report, prescriptions for sleep medications have tripled over the past two decades. More than 70 million Americans are plagued with sleeping disorders or are sleep deprived.
An earlier study conducted in February linked an increased risk of heart problems and obesity to lack of sleep. The study found that getting less than six hours of sleep per night for more than a few days "switches off" hundreds of genes that consequently leads to severe cases of heart diseases and obesity.
Another study conducted earlier this month found that sleep apnea increases the risk of developing glaucoma, a disease that damages the eye's optic nerve causing blindness. According to a Delta Sleep Labs report, over 18 million people suffer from this disorder and 10 million remain undiagnosed. More than half of sleep apnea diagnoses take place among adults aged 40 and above and it is more prevalent in men than women.
