People may be fooled into thinking that they’re getting more sleep, but actually they’re not. My second problem with sleeping pills: They don’t tend to increase sleep much beyond placebos. We don’t have any good pharmacological approach right now to replicate such a nuanced and complex set of biological changes. Sleep, in contrast, is this incredibly complex ballet of neurochemcial brilliance that results in numerous areas of the brain both switching on and switching off. They principally attack those sites in the cortex, this wrinkle of tissue on the top of your brain, and they just switch off the top of your cortex, the top of your brain, and put you into a state of unconsciousness. The way that they work is by targeting a set of receptors, or “welcome sites,” in the brain that are lured to basically stop your brain cells from firing. They’re classified as “sedative hypnotics,” so the drugs actually just sedate you - and sedation is not sleep.Īnd you argue that this distinction, between natural sleep and sedation, is why sleeping pills don’t deliver the same benefits of sleep. The quality of sleep that you have when you’re on these drugs is not the same as normal, naturalistic sleep. There’s a lengthy section toward the end of the book that discusses your concerns about sleeping pills. What follows is a lightly edited and condensed version of our conversation. Recently, we spoke with Walker about this aspect of his book, including his skepticism over sleeping pills and his enthusiasm for cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I. Currently, Walker says, the best available treatment method for combating chronic sleeplessness is not pharmacological at all it’s psychological. Sleep medications don’t deliver the same restorative benefits as natural sleep, and even though people who take them often swear by them, the research suggests that the drugs don’t tend to increase sleep quality beyond placebos. In a section of his new book, Why We Sleep, Walker explores the latest scientific research to show the unfortunate truth about sleeping pills: They don’t work as well as we wish they did. If so, Matt Walker, a professor of neuroscience and psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, has a bit of bad news for you. Maybe you’re one of the estimated 50 to 70 million Americans who suffer from sleep disorders, including insomnia maybe you’re also among the 4 percent of American adults who rely on prescription medication in order to fall asleep. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images If you feel that a lack of sleep is affecting your quality of life on a daily basis and none of the things we’ve suggested help, you should speak to your doctor or a relevant health professional for further advice on what to do next.Photo: H. Keep your bedroom dark and at a moderate room temperature of 18 to 24 degrees while you sleep. Use it to track how well you sleep every day to see if any habits or lifestyle changes affect your sleep. Avoid excessive alcohol or caffeine consumption, as this can disturb the sleep cycle.Prepare the body for sleep by doing things that help you unwind, like taking a hot bath or shower before bed or stretching.Set a regular time to go to sleep and get up every day.Avoid looking at your phone or computer screen at least 60 minutes before you go to bed.Here are some effective sleep hygiene habits to cultivate if you need help sleeping: Staying on top of your sleep hygiene is also very important. For starters, getting the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep each night really helps.
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