Medicine News

If you use any hypnotic drugs you shoul know that recent researches show that it can effect on your body balance and standing steadiness.


Background
Disturbed body balance and standing steadiness are problematic for those who wake up at night or in the morning after using hypnotic drugs. As a result, falls and hip fractures are frequently reported in patients using sleep medication.

Methods
A literature search was performed to identify double blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials that examined body balance and standing steadiness. Drugs that were searched were nitrazepam, triazolam, lorazepam, temazepam, loprazolam, flunitrazepam, flurazepam, and the Z-drugs zopiclone, zolpidem and zaleplon.

Results
A total of 57 studies were eligible for inclusion. Results showed that both benzodiazepine hypnotics and the Z-drugs significantly impair body balance and standing steadiness after single dose administration. Impairments correlate significantly with blood plasma levels and are greatest at peak plasma concentrations, but are sometimes still present upon awakening. Balance problems were dose-related and most pronounced in elderly. Co-administration of alcohol aggravated the impairment. After repeated daily use of hypnotic drugs partial tolerance develops to the impairing effects on standing steadiness.

Conclusion
Single dose administration of benzodiazepine hypnotics and Z-drugs significantly impair body balance in a dose-dependent manner. Zolpidem and zopiclone produced similar significant impairment as benzodiazepine hypnotics. Zaleplon significantly impaired balance up to 2 h after intake. Partial tolerance develops after repeated daily use. In conclusion, patients should be warned about the possible risk of imbalance and falls due to the use of sleep medication.

via www.smrv-journal.com/

What is it sleep deprivation? It’s good if you don’t know what it is yet, you know whay I mean. But actually sleep deprivation is a very widespread disease with definite symptoms. Sleep deprivation is a serious condition that can negatively impact your life. In short, you do not get the sleep you need and this is caused by not having enough time to get the sleep you need. How much sleep do we need? We need enough good quality sleep to feel alert during the day, especially during the afternoon. If you have a sleep debt you will very sleepy in the afternoon and it may cost in lost production, accidents, nervousness and conflicts. Besides that there are some medical conditions interfere with sleep. Many different conditions can have a negative impact on sleep, such as ADHD, anxiety, asthma, bipolar disorder, depression, post-traumatic and stress of course. Stress has emerged as a chronic condition in our fast-paced society. Rest and relaxation are the best cures for stress and stress-related problems, but unfortunately those problems can actually inhibit restorative sleep.

The body and mind need time to decompress from each day's activities. When people work overtime, work from home, run around to kids' extracurricular activities, sit in traffic for hours, etc., it cuts down on the physical and mental downtime our bodies need.

Stress can short-circuit your body and make it more or less forget how to relax and rest. It is also a bit much to ask our bodies to cram in all of its decompression time into sleep hours only. The world turns at a much faster pace than it ever did before; though we may not want to slow down, we must be respectful of our own mental and physical health.
Anxiety, Depression and Sleep
Anxiety and depression can both alter a person's ability to fall asleep and sleep soundly. This can manifest in different ways, from feeling panicked or having a racing mind when you are trying to fall asleep, to having exaggerated, irrational feelings of fear or someone in your house, to waking in the middle of the night and feeling listless as you try to get back to sleep. Not only can the actual medical problem affect sleep - so can the medicine used to cure the problem. Whether it is an antidepressant, theophylline for asthma or even, surprisingly, sleeping pills, medicines can have unsettling side effects. Be sure to thoroughly discuss your medication, and its side effects, with your physician.
What to do? First try to avoid too much stress.
Eat a balanced diet.
Avoid too much caffeine and nicotine, especially in the evening hours.
Don't overdo alcohol. Also sport, outdoor activities and high spirits will help you on this way. Additional way is to try melatonin sleep aid.