Sleeping pills make you unconscious, not asleep. They impair the sleep cycle. They increase dementia, falls, and death. And they're highly addictive.
Sleeping pills deprive people of true sleep and they impede essential brain functions (which are causes of dementia, Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases)
For many, sleeping pills seem like the easiest solution… While these drugs offer a quick fix, the reality is that they force your brain into a sedated state that looks nothing like natural sleep. They may make you unconscious, but they don’t allow the brain to go through its essential cycles of repair and detoxification. A recent study published in the journal Cell revealed… how sleeping pills disrupt the synchronized oscillations that drive the brain’s glymphatic system, which clears waste linked to neurodegenerative diseases.
Contents
Sleeping Pills, Sedatives
Evidence of Harm
Alternatives & Considerations
Context: See how this subject fits in the bigger picture, and get links to related topics
Sleeping Pills, Sedatives
Sleep drugs include Ambien, Anxiolytics, Belsomra, Benzodiazepines, Hypnotics, Suvorexant, Tranquilizers, Z-Drugs, Zaleplon, Zolpidem, and Zopiclone. [source and source]
This section focuses on sleeping pills generally. Get much more detail on the harms from benzodiazepines here.
Sleeping pills and minor tranquillisers are sedative medications. This means they slow down your body and brain’s functions. For example, this may be your breathing, heartbeat and thought processes. These medications can be prescribed for severe anxiety or insomnia (difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep). This includes prescribing: benzodiazepines [and] non-benzodiazepine sleeping pills. You may also hear these drugs referred to as hypnotics and anxiolytics. Although we use the term ‘sleeping pills’ to describe many of these drugs, some of them may also be available as a liquid, either to swallow or inject…
Take sleeping pills for no longer than three weeks, ideally no longer than a week… Avoid taking them every day.
Evidence of Harm
Sleeping Pills Impair the Sleep Cycle and the Brain’s Ability to Detoxify, which are Root Causes of Dementia and Alzheimer’s — “The sleep aid zolpidem suppresses norepinephrine oscillations and glymphatic flow.” See also: How Sleeping Pills Harm Your Brain and Raise Dementia Risk: “Your brain has a cleaning mechanism called the glymphatic system, which flushes out harmful toxins during deep sleep, including beta-amyloids and tau proteins linked to neurodegeneration. A 2025 study found sleeping pills suppress norepinephrine oscillations. This impairs the glymphatic system’s waste removal function and causes toxin buildup in the brain. Sleeping pills increase risks of falls, car accidents and workplace injuries. Long-term use is also linked to higher mortality, cancer risk and cognitive decline. Instead of taking sleeping pills, address the root cause of your sleeplessness through the strategies outlined below.” See also: Common Sleeping Pill Potentially Linked to Alzheimer’s, Other Disorders, Study Finds; “A common sleeping medication, zolpidem, commonly known by the brand name Ambien, may disrupt the brain’s ability to ‘cleanse’ itself during sleep, potentially raising the risk of Alzheimer’s and other neurological disorders.” See also: Common sleep medication may prevent brain from clearing ‘waste’ See also: Insomnia: War on Sleep; “Studies have shown that disrupted sleep causes an accelerated accumulation of Alzheimer’s plaques in the brain and can forecast the development of dementia. Deep sleep has been shown to mitigate the cognitive impairment created by Alzheimer’s plaques. [See more: Alzheimer’s – Lies are Unbekoming]
People Using Sleeping Pills Were Far More Likely to Die — “Receiving hypnotic prescriptions was associated with greater than threefold increased hazards of death even when prescribed <18 pills/year… Estimates… suggest that in 2010, hypnotics may have been associated with 320 000 to 507 000 excess deaths in the USA alone.” See also: Use of Sleep Medications and Mortality: The Hordaland Health Study; “Sleep medication use [was] associated with increased [death]. Compared with participants not using sleep medications, those who reported any use had a twofold risk for mortality… The hazard ratio was 2.9 for daily users.”
Sleeping Pills are Highly Addictive — “Many become dependent on sleeping pills. The numbers aren’t in their favor. Approximately 38 million prescriptions for Ambien (a common sleeping pill) were written between 2006 and 2011. With such rampant accessibility, and a perceived blessing from medical professionals, it’s no wonder so many people fall prey to the power of sleeping pills… As tolerance increases, many find that they need to take larger dosages to obtain the desired effect. A lot of people don’t realize they’ve become dependent, or possibly addicted, until they stop taking their medication. They may then begin experiencing sleeping pill withdrawal symptoms, a telltale sign of both dependence and addiction.”
Sleeping Pills Prescribed to People with Dementia Increase Falls & Broken Bones — “High dose sleeping pills may increase the risk of falls or fractures in people with dementia. The study appeared in BMC Medicine and looked at data on more than 27,000 patients in England diagnosed with dementia between 2000 and 2016.” See also: Adverse effects of Z-drugs for sleep disturbance in people living with dementia: a population-based cohort study
Sleeping Pills Prescribed to People with Dementia & Alzheimer’s Worsen Depression, Suicidal Thinking, and Sleep Issues, and are Detrimental to Breathing — “Possible side effects include, but are not limited to: risk of impaired alertness and motor coordination (including impaired driving), worsening of depression or suicidal thinking, complex sleep behaviors (such as sleep-walking and sleep-driving), sleep paralysis and compromised respiratory function.”
Sleeping Pills Do Not Address the Cause of Sleeping Issues. They Cause Harm. And They Distract Attention from Solving the Root Issues. — “Proper sleep is one of the most important things for our health, and when it is disrupted, many severe issues consistently emerge (e.g., heart attacks, psychiatric illnesses, car accidents, fatigue, diabetes, cognitive impairment, or dementia). Unfortunately, poor sleep is an epidemic throughout our society. This is in part due to the importance of sleep not being understood (e.g., sleep is essential for learning yet educational programs like medical training sleep deprive students) and in part due to the fact the existing sleeping pills are sedatives which block the brain’s ability to have healthy sleep.” See also: Despite $65 Billion a Year Sleep Aid Market, Americans Remain Sleep Deprived (Forbes, 2022)
Sedatives Aren’t Sleep Aids; They’re Sleep Hindrances
Most prescription sleeping pills (e.g., Ambien) are classified as “sedative hypnotics” and are fairly similar to the benzodiazepine medications commonly used for anxiety (e.g., Valium). The problem with these drugs is that they are highly addictive, but unfortunately, despite the fact they are only supposed to be used in the short term, individuals typically end up being permanently on them (at which point they can’t withdraw from them). Conversely, over the counter sleeping pills (e.g., Benadryl or Unisom) are typically antihistamines, and unfortunately are also sedatives that damage the sleep cycle… Note: alcohol has a similar mechanism to benzodiazapines, which may explain why it is an addictive sedative that inhibits the sleep cycle… The entire scam comes down to the fact most sleeping pills are sedatives, not sleep aids… Through sedating the brain, its ability to initiate restorative sleep functions is greatly impaired. As a result, people who take sleeping pills effectively have greatly reduced sleep, and in turn, are both tired throughout the day (because they did not have a restorative night of sleep) and are at high risk of developing a wide range of health issues associated with poor sleep. – A Midwestern Doctor link
Frequent Use of Sleeping Pills Have “Detrimental” Effects on Health
More frequent sleep medication usage has detrimental implications on disability beyond insomnia symptoms. – Sleep Research Society link
There’s Been a Skyrocketing Increase in Adolescents & Young Adults Whose Use of Sleeping Pills Has Caused Them “Significant Impairment & Distress”
According to Harvard Health, consistent use of sedative, hypnotic and antianxiety medications can lead to a higher tolerance for their effects, meaning patients require higher doses to achieve the intended effects… A problematic pattern of use of these medications can lead to significant impairment and distress. When this happens, patients may be diagnosed with sedative, hypnotic or anxiolytic use disorders, which are estimated to impact 2.2 million Americans… Rutgers researchers looked at trends in sedative, hypnotic or anxiolytic use disorder diagnoses. The prevalence increased threefold in adolescents and increased five-fold in young adults from 2001 to 2019. – Rutgers University link
Alternatives & Considerations
Herbal support and natural sleep remedies include the following.
5- HTP
Adaptogens [source]
Ashwagandha
Black cumin oil extract* [source]
Bone broth
Brahmi
Cherries, tart (Montmorency tart cherries are a natural source of melatonin) [source]
Chrysanthemum tea [source]
Jatamansi
GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) [source]
Kava kava
L-theanine [source]
Magnesium and magnesium-rich foods [source and source and source and source and source and source and source]
Melatonin [source and source and source and source and source]
Milk, warm [source]
Nighty Night Tea by Traditional Medicinals [source]
Punarnava
Reishi mushrooms [source]
Rose tea [source]
Silk tree bark tea [source]
Sour jujube seed tea [source]
St. John’s wort
Valerian [source and source and source and source and source]
*Note: ”Throughout the month-long study, participants diligently took either a placebo or the black cumin oil extract. Each participant completed nightly Pittsburgh sleep study questionnaires, and, at the study’s conclusion, all questionnaires were compiled, and initial blood tests were repeated. The results showed a striking reduction in cytokine and cortisol levels among the group treated with black cumin oil extract. Furthermore, this group reported significantly higher scores indicating quality restorative sleep, painting a promising picture of the extract’s potential impact.” [source]
See much more in Techniques for Quality Sleep at Wellness Resource Center. There you’ll find an organized summary of more than 100 research papers and articles, including many evidence-based techniques and research summaries demonstrating the following outcomes. (Small membership fee required.)
Mindfulness meditation improved sleep for older adults experiencing sleep issues (2015)
Mindfulness meditation successful for the treatment of insomnia, providing “durable results” (2015)
Statistically superior sleep results among yoga groups (2013)
After 6 months of yoga, sleep quality, depression, and health status of older adults were all improved (2009)
Significant decrease in the time taken to fall asleep, an increase in the total number of hours slept, and in the feeling of being rested in the morning among elderly, compared to Ayurveda group and control group (2005)
Among more than 1,800 women with sleep problems, yoga groups showed a significant improvement in sleep (2020)
Yoga improved self-reports of sleep quality, plus measurable markers of slow-wave sleep, REM and awakenings (2009)
Among 4,500 participants, mind-body therapies (meditation, tai chi qigong, and yoga) resulted in statistically significant improvement in sleep quality and reduction in insomnia severity (2019)
Meditative movement (tai chi, qi gong, and yoga) improved sleep quality in a variety of patient populations (2016)
Yoga improved sleep in cancer survivors (2014)
Tibetan Yoga intervention vs stretching or usual care: Better sleep quality, both short and long-term, among breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy (2017)
8 weeks of web-based Hatha Yoga had beneficial effect on the mental health and quality of sleep in older adults (2022)
Moderate-intensity exercise or stretching improved sleep quality among sedentary, overweight, and postmenopausal women (2003)
Overweight adults engaging in resistance training and/or aerobic exercise increased their sleep time, with the greatest gains from resistance training (2003)
Mindfulness practices and cognitive behavioral therapy were equally effective for insomnia (2018)
Practicing twice-weekly yoga improved symptoms of restless leg syndrome (2013)
Context, Organized Curation
This article is a subset of a vast resource curation on the failure and corruption of establishment medicine. See here for the entire curation, or select links below to focus on an individual subject.
The subject matter above is an excerpt from Harms by Drug or Test.
Failed Health Outcomes — The U.S. spends nearly twice the per-capita amount on healthcare than the next highest spender, yet Americans are the most chronically ill, and rank 48th in life expectancy, among other countries. In addition, medical misdiagnosis causes permanent harm and death to 795,000 people every year.
Verifiably Corrupt — Establishment medicine as a system* is verifiably corrupt, serving the interests of industry — not health. (*Obviously, not every individual working in establishment medicine is unethical. Rather, the system that educated / indoctrinated them, and that sets policy, hires, pays, and promotes them is verifiably corrupted.)
Big Pharma & Biotech: Immoral Business Model — Corporations, by design, are beholden to profit above all else, acting as powerful entities that are “essentially psychopathic and without conscience.” Pharmaceutical and biotech companies are the utmost example of corporate psychopathy, demonstrating inhumanity in response to human suffering.
Regulatory & Professional Betrayal — Government agencies entrusted to regulate the field of medicine fail to do so. The majority of influential professional organizations such as the American Medical Association are corrupted by industry.
Not Evidence/Science-Based — The bulk of establishment medicine’s standard of care is not backed by unbiased, reproducible science. (We prove it here.)
Harms, by Drug or Test — Establishment medicine providers routinely utilize diagnostic testing and “treatments” that cause harm (“adverse”, “side” effects). Get verifiable evidence of the harms, organized by drug, treatment, or test (mammograms, CT scans, antibiotics, statins, benzos, etc).
Failed Strategies & Procedures — The philosophies, strategies, and procedures used by establishment medicine are dysfunctional and irrational, including a focus on suppressing symptoms rather than understanding them. Providers do not seek to identify and resolve the root causes of illness, and diagnosis is simply an exercise in naming groupings of symptoms, disconnected from their purpose and message.
Root Causes of Illness — With knowledge of causal factors, true healing is possible. Quickly identify drugs, vaccines, toxins, and nutrient deficiencies that cause illnesses and symptoms e.g. depression, infertility, kidney issues, cancer, seizure, etc. Quickly verify documented “side effects” and evidence of harm.
Stifling Treatments That Don’t Enrich Industry — Healing modalities that don’t benefit industry are underutilized, suppressed, and disparaged. Providers who are perceived as a threat to establishment dictates or lucrative markets are condemned, intimidated and attacked.
Suppressed Cancer Treatments — Cancer treatments that don’t benefit establishment medicine are ignored and disparaged. This curation of more than 150 clinical studies and testimonials provides quick access to documented cancer reversal and recovery successes.
The Significance of Legal Precedent — Legal precedent, breach of duty, and “standard of care” are significant factors in the state of the medical industry.
Alternatives & Considerations — Alternatives, considerations, and what you can do.
What about using Trazodone at 10-20 mg., up to 50 mg. as a sleep aid? I have a friend who has a terrible sleep problem who has used this, but still has trouble sleeping. He is morbidly obese, and has tried all kinds of drugs, been to sleep clinics, been diagnosed with Sleep Apnea, prescribed a machine, but still rarely sleeps more than a few hours a night.