Amnesia, forgetfulness, delirium It is paranoia. Taking some over-the-counter sleeping pills, such as Zolpidem, may be associated with these and other risks. Supplements like melatonin also need attention.
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In the case of Zolpidem, in addition to causing these symptoms, the medications also cause the person to “unlearn how to sleep”, explains psychiatrist Bruno Brandão. According to him, most of these medications tend to cause dependence.
“Sleep is a physiological change in the level of consciousness, so much so that we go on a ‘journey’ while we sleep, we dream, anyway. But we are sleeping. If the person takes the medication, they don’t sleep and with this change in the level of consciousness, can culminate in these states of paranoia and delirium”, he adds
According to the expert, most of these medications tend to cause dependence. He explains that when stopping the use of the medication, the person may suffer withdrawal crises.
“The person starts taking one pill a day and after a while they are taking two, three, four”, he said.
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Already the melatonin, which is a hormone produced by our own organism (in the pineal gland), released mainly at the beginning of the night, when natural lighting falls, can also generate dependence and not work in some cases. Despite being used as a sleeping medication, in Brazil, the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) authorizes its use only as a dietary supplement.
According to Albert Einstein Hospital, if the lack of sleep is behavioral, the moment the person stops consuming the hormone, they will experience insomnia again. According to the institution, melatonin does not maintain sleep, it only helps with its onset.
The supplement should be avoided by people with epilepsy. people with autoimmune diseases and women who are trying to get pregnant, according to Laura Shane-McWhorter, professor in the Department of Pharmacotherapy at the University of Utah, in the USA.
What to do in case of insomnia?
To treat the insomnia, it is necessary to understand its causes, according to the expert. In many cases, it is just a consequence of disorders such as anxiety and depression, for example. Therefore, he reiterates that the condition must first be diagnosed, so that it can be treated correctly.
“If you need treatment with medication, you need to have a start and end date, so you don’t stop taking the medication for the rest of your life,” he said.
Some habits harm sleep
According to Brandão, some habits should be avoided to improve sleep quality: staying in the room all day, napping during the day, having little contact with light, drinking too much coffee and having contact with screens (such as TV and cell phones). ) close to bedtime.
“To regulate sleep, you basically need to follow the flow of the sun. Not necessarily sunbathing, but simply letting the light enter the environment you are in,” he said
Regulating sleep “is not overnight”.
To regulate your sleep, you need planning and “it’s not done overnight”, explains the psychiatrist. In many cases, he explains, it can take at least two to three weeks.
Searches have increased on Google
Search interest for Melatonin and Zolpidem has increased on Google. The first, for example, had an increasingly significant number of searches in the last three years, according to the Google Trends. See below:
Zolpidem, in turn, showed spikes in searches last year. Watch:
Tags: melatonin Zolpidem understand risks sleeping medications
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