How Medications Affect Your Sleep

Prescribed medication or over the counter medication is taken by a person with the interest of treating a particular illness or control a particular condition. These medications sometimes come with sleep deprivation side-effects that interfere with the ability of one to sleep and sometimes causing levels of insomnia. A student may have to find a homework doer because of sleep deprivation side effects Examples of medication that may have an effect on the sleeping patterns of a patient include; high blood pressure medication and medication taken to cure coughs, colds and flus. Some medication like antihistamines cause drowsiness even during the day. The following is a brief description of how the different medication that people take affects their sleep patterns.

  1. Insomnia Causing Medication

Drugs that contain stimulants or chemicals that act as stimulants are likely to keep someone up at night. These include pain-killers that have caffeine ADHD medication, anti-smoking and asthma medications, thyroid medications, decongestants and blood pressure medications. The severity of the sleep disorder caused by the drugs depends on the potency of the medication and the dosage prescribed. Every patient should discuss the side effects of the medication they are using with his or her doctor for him to be able to consider continuing or switching the medication.

  1. Sleep Disruptive Medication

Other drugs may not cause complete insomnia but they will affect the quality of sleep that one gets at night. These medications induce anxiety which may cause the patient to experience nightmares or repeated waking during sleep. Examples of these drugs are beta-blockers that are used for blood pressure and cholesterol lowering drugs.

  1. Medications That Cause Drowsiness

Allergy and cold medications sometimes cause drowsiness and sleepiness during the day which end up affecting the ordinary sleep patterns that people may have. Anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication can make a person feel sluggish during the day and affect their ability to sleep well during the night. Other examples of medications which have drowsiness as a side-effect are opioid pain medication, muscle relaxants and anticonvulsants that are used to treat seizures.

Sleeping Pills and their Effects on Sleep Patterns

Many individuals with sleep disorders choose to take sleep inducing medication to help them to get the rest they need at night. Doctors only recommend the use of sleeping pills to people who suffer from severe sleep disorders. This is because at times the side-effects and disadvantages of using sleeping pills outweigh the benefits of using them. These pills come in the form of sedatives or hypnotics and may be obtained over the counter at local pharmaceutical shops or through prescriptions by specialists. Th following are examples of the sleeping pill categories according to their contents.

Melatonin is a hormone that is naturally produced by the body. It is responsible for controlling the sleep-wake cycles by telling the brain that it is time to rest and sleep. The body produces more melatonin when it is dark than during the daylight. Many sleeping pills that contain melatonin are used by people who are experiencing jet lag or having trouble falling asleep because of changes in shift work. Melatonin drugs are available over the counter and can be purchase without the need of prescriptions from a doctor.

  • Sedatives and Antihistamines

These are helpful to people who have trouble staying asleep. They are sometimes used to treat allergies and they cause drowsiness as a side-effect. Other people choose to use the sedating anti-histamines to relieve tension, anxiety and induce sleep. Doctors may prescribe sedating anti-histamines as a short-term solution for sleep deprived patients. When people over-use sedating anti-histamines, the body becomes used to them and they become less effective over time.

Sleeping pills and medication that affect sleeping patterns can be disorienting and detrimental to the overall health of the patient. It is important to discuss with a doctor all the possible side-effects that a certain drug will come with. A person should then consider other alternatives like exercise and meditation activities that he or she may use to cure sleeping disorders.