Experts warn against a popular remedy for insomnia — it may increase risk of disability

Zzz’s the day, but do it naturally!

Seniors should aim for seven to nine hours of shuteye a night — unfortunately, research indicates that many struggle to fall and/or stay asleep.

Insomnia has been linked to an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, mental health troubles, cognitive decline and even accidents.

A new study reports that seniors with insomnia also face higher odds of disability — and that risk persists even if they take medication to try to sleep more.

“We found that as older people used more sleep medication or experienced more insomnia symptoms, they moved more rapidly towards greater disability,” said study co-author Orfeu Buxton, a Penn State biobehavioral health professor.

Buxton’s team analyzed five years of sleep and disability data from over 6,700 people over 65. The seniors completed a questionnaire about activities such as dressing, eating, using the toilet and showering.

They also detailed their ability to get out of bed, move around indoors and go outside.

The researchers, from Penn State and Taipei Medical University in Taiwan, calculated activity scores that reflected whether participants could complete the tasks on their own or if they needed assistance or accommodations.

Insomnia symptoms and sleep medication use were scored based on five frequency levels — never, once a week, some nights, most nights and every night.

Every level of increase in the frequency of insomnia symptoms and the frequency of sleep medication use meant the risk for becoming disabled in some way rose by 20%.

“These results indicate that both insomnia and sleep medication use may be contributing to disability,” said lead study author Tuo-Yu “Tim” Chen, an assistant professor at Taipei Medical.

“As an average example, these numbers suggest that an older adult who increased their sleep medication use from ‘never’ to ‘every night’ over the course of five years would be likely to develop a clinically significant disability,” Chen explained.

“On an individual level, we cannot predict risk so specifically, but if an older adult has prolonged sleep problems and/or sleep-medication use over time, they are very likely to become disabled.”

The team suspects that falls are a major reason why sleep meds were tied to higher levels of disability. Besides drowsiness, these pills can cause dizziness and impaired coordination.

Their findings were published last week in the journal Sleep.

The study authors suggest that seniors suffering from insomnia talk with their doctor to make sure their medications aren’t causing the tossing and turning.

And before they grab a sleep aid, they should consider cognitive behavioral therapy, which may help with identifying and addressing thoughts, feelings and behaviors that contribute to poor sleep.