Nearly 9M Americans Take Prescription Sleeping Pills
- 11 years ago
A new study shows that Americans have a lot of sleepless nights, and 8.6 million people take prescription pills to combat them.
A new study shows that Americans have a lot of sleepless nights, and 8.6 million people take prescription pills to combat them.
The CDC reported that among that group it’s older Americans who are popping the most pills.
6 percent of the 50 to 59-year-olds take a prescription-only sleep aid, and 7 percent of the 80 and over crowd said that they do as well.
Women took them 2 percent more often than men, and white people took them 2 percent more often than black people.
Reasons given to doctors that prompted them to recommend the meds included reports of not being able to stay asleep and just not sleeping at all.
The Institute of Medicine, an organization that advises on matters of public policy, estimates the number of Americans having sleep issues of some kind at up to 70 million.
It’s recommended that adults get at least 7 hours a night, and the CDC found that 33 percent of the country isn’t getting enough.
The number of Americans using some form of sleep aid, prescription or not, is said to be 12 million.
A new study shows that Americans have a lot of sleepless nights, and 8.6 million people take prescription pills to combat them.
The CDC reported that among that group it’s older Americans who are popping the most pills.
6 percent of the 50 to 59-year-olds take a prescription-only sleep aid, and 7 percent of the 80 and over crowd said that they do as well.
Women took them 2 percent more often than men, and white people took them 2 percent more often than black people.
Reasons given to doctors that prompted them to recommend the meds included reports of not being able to stay asleep and just not sleeping at all.
The Institute of Medicine, an organization that advises on matters of public policy, estimates the number of Americans having sleep issues of some kind at up to 70 million.
It’s recommended that adults get at least 7 hours a night, and the CDC found that 33 percent of the country isn’t getting enough.
The number of Americans using some form of sleep aid, prescription or not, is said to be 12 million.