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Sleeping Pills are Not the Answer
Posted On: Friday 4th March 2011
Summary: This report in the news today says 10 percent of Brits usse sleeping pills, but they are not the answer
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Healthy Living
One in ten Brits rely on pills to doze off at night
Britain is in the grip of an insomnia epidemic as one in ten people relies on sleeping pills, research has revealed.
Although Margaret Thatcher may have survived on five hours sleep a night, scientists say a good night's sleep is as crucial to one's health as eating well and exercise.
They say not enough sleep could lead to diabetes, heart disease and obesity if left unaddressed for too long.
And results from a survey by the Economic and Social Research Council show that one in eight Britons don't even notch six hours slumber a night.
And three in five take up to 30 minutes to fall to sleep.
But experts have warned that a 'quick fix' in the shape of a pill is not the answer.
They blame social pressure to work harder and fit more in during the day for why Brits turn to drugs to knock them out.
Independent sleep researcher Neil Stanley told the Times: 'A lot of people reach for medicatioin as a quick fix rather than looking at the lifestyle and environmental issues that may be causing their sleep problems.
'There's no medicine that gives you a natural sleep. They give you a drug-induced sleep.'
Professer Francesco Cappuccio, of the University of Warwick, backed the research, telling the Times: If you sleep less than five hours on a regular basis, your long-term [chance] of developing diseases increases dramatically.
He added that hormones that regulate appetite and blood pressure is affected by sleep loss and 'anything you do to work against you body clock will have consequences on your physiology'.
This story is from: www.dailymail.co.uk
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