A new study from the University of Colorado at Boulder has found that people who take one of the world’s most commonly prescribed sleep medicines are significantly more at risk for nighttime falls, potential injury, and memory impairment.The study, which involved twenty-five healthy adults, showed 58 percent of the older adults and 27 percent of the young adults who took a hypnotic, sleep-inducing drug called zolpidem showed a significant loss of balance and impaired thinking-ability when awakened two hours after sleep.
Zolpidem is a generic drug that is marketed under a number of different brand names, including Ambien, Zolpimist, Edluar, Hypogen, Somidem and Ivedal. “These findings are important because falls are the leading cause of injury in older adults, and 30 percent of adults sixty-five and older who fall, require hospitalization each year,” said Associate Professor Kenneth Wright, lead study author.
“The balance impairments of older adults taking zolpidem were clinically significant and the cognitive impairments were more than twice as large compared to the same older adults taking placebos,” said Wright. “This suggests to us that sleep medication produces significant safety risks.”
The good news is that there are natural alternatives available. A recent Gallup Poll survey reported that magnesium consumption greatly declines as we age. Seventy-Nine percent of adults fifty-five and over are eating below the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of magnesium.
In fact, the National Institutes of Health web site says that older adults are at increased risk of magnesium deficiency due to their decreased ability to absorb the mineral. Also, the diseases to which older adults are vulnerable, and some of the drugs used in therapy, also contribute to magnesium loss.
Richard Rivlin, M.D., Chief of the Nutrition Division at New York Hospital, Cornell Medical Center says: “The prevalence of heart disease, diabetes and even leg cramps increases dramatically among older persons, and these are all health conditions in which magnesium deficiency has been found.”
A recent National Sleep Foundation poll found that sixty-seven percent of older Americans report having frequent insomnia and sleep problems. Chronic insomnia is one of the main symptoms of magnesium deficiency. Sleep in magnesium deficiency is usually agitated with frequent nighttime awakenings. On the other hand, a high magnesium diet has been found to be associated with deeper, less interrupted sleep.
Regarding the use of a nutritional sleep remedy containing magnesium for insomnia relief, formulas should contain twice as much calcium as magnesium. The original research on this recommended ratio appeared in 1935 in the Journal of Physiological Reviews.
As research continues on sleep medications, more and more adverse effects are likely to be discovered. Natural minerals can be an effective, safe alternative.
This health news is shared by Nutrition Breakthroughs, maker of the original calcium and magnesium based sleep aid Sleep Minerals II Click Here,
L.R.C. of Massachusetts says: “I had become dependent on sleeping drugs and couldn’t sleep without them. Now I take the Sleep Minerals before bed and I can sleep through the whole night without drugs. I’m also able to easily fall back to sleep if I do have to get up. Click Here,