Sleeping pills prescribed to millions of people every year do not work in the long term, a study has found.

Scientists found no difference in sleep quality or duration between those who took the medication for one to two years and those who didn’t.

The research team said that rather than taking such medication long term, patients should receive cognitive behavioral therapy to help them sleep.

Meanwhile, the U.K.’s Sleep Charity said last week that the study showed that drugs failed to tackle the root problem.

In the Western world, insomnia is thought to affect between 10 and 30 percent of adults at any one time, according to the Economic and Social Research Council.

The group has also calculated that one in 10 British adults regularly take some kind of sleeping tablet, with an accompanying risk of addiction.

For the new study, published in BMJ Open, a team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston compared 238 women who had started using medication to tackle insomnia with 447 matched women who were not on sleeping drugs. The average age was 49.5.

Sleep disturbances were defined as difficulty falling asleep, frequent awakening and waking up early.

On average, both groups of women reported difficulties on one in three nights, waking frequently two in three nights, and waking up early one in three nights.

Overall, more than 70 percent of women reported disturbed sleep at least three times a week, regardless of whether they were on sleep medication or not.

Around half of the women were current or former smokers and one in five moderate to heavy drinkers, both of which may affect sleep quality.

A spokesperson for the Sleep Charity said, “While prescription drugs can help with short-term insomnia, and help to break a cycle of poor sleep, it doesn’t tackle the root problem. They really just mask the symptoms.

“With long-term insomnia, lifestyle or behavior changes usually need to happen which is why cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia is an effective treatment.

“Unfortunately, there is very little support for people struggling with sleep difficulties, which is why many turn to prescription medications.”

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【失眠】 shīmián insomnia a common sleep disorder that can make it hard to fall asleep, hard to stay asleep, or cause you to wake up too early and not be able to get back to sleep

【处方】chǔfāng prescription a written direction for a therapeutic agent

研究发现，每年医院给数百万人开出的安眠药长期来看并没有效果。

科学家发现，服用安眠药一至两年后，睡眠质量和时间并不会改善。

研究团队称，患者不应该长期服用安眠药，而应该接受认知行为疗法来助眠。

与此同时，英国的睡眠慈善机构上周称，研究显示安眠药无法根治失眠。

经济与社会研究委员会指出，据认为，西方世界有10%到30%的成年人随时遭受失眠困扰。

据研究团队估算，英国有十分之一的成人定期服用某种安眠药，随之而来的是上瘾的风险。

在这一发表在《英国医学期刊》的新研究中，波士顿的布列根和妇女医院将238名已开始服用安眠药来对抗失眠的女性与447名没有服用安眠药的失眠女性相对比。她们的平均年龄是49.5岁。

睡眠障碍被定义为难以入眠、频繁醒来和过早醒来。

平均来看，两组女性都报告称自己每三夜就有一夜难以入眠，每三夜就有两夜频繁醒来，每三夜就有一夜过早醒来。

总体而言，逾70%的女性报告称，每周至少出现三次睡眠障碍，无论有没有服用安眠药。

约半数女性现在或过去是烟民，五分之一的人是中度到重度饮酒者，而吸烟和喝酒都可能影响睡眠质量。

睡眠慈善机构的发言人称：“尽管处方药物有助于治疗短期失眠，打破睡眠不良的恶性循环，但不能根治失眠。他们其实只是在掩盖症状。”

“对付长期失眠，通常需要做出生活方式或行为的改变，这就是为什么失眠认知行为疗法比较有效。”

“不幸的是，遭受失眠困扰的人得到的支持非常少，这就是为什么许多失眠者转而求助于处方药。”

(chinadaily.com.cn)