Institute for Continuing Education

The Risks of Sleeping Pills

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this module, you will be able to:

• Explain why sleeping pill usage is associated with increased mortality.
• Identify why sleeping pills are risky and which ones are the riskiest.
• Describe what are considered good sleep habits and behaviors.

Course Information

This module explains risks of sleeping pills which you may not have heard about. It also describes better alternatives.

People who take sleeping pills often hope that sleeping pills will increase their sleep enough to make them more energetic in the day, and they may hope that sleeping pills will improve their long-term health. Unfortunately, nothing could be farther from the truth!

Because life and death are often our primary concern, I would like to first to discuss the darkest aspect of sleeping pills. I think that taking sleeping pills is like risking suicide. Later, I will discuss how sleeping pills fail to help us in the day.