“Insomnia kills!” That’s the first liner of a reputable medical review article penned by an M.D.
Beware of the 5 dangers of insomnia you should know about. Today, researchers are warning that insomnia affecting over 100 million Americans is a national health concern. Insomnia is dangerously under recognized and under treated by healthcare providers.
1. You are driving as poorly and dangerously as a drunk driver.
A fatal road accident every 6 hours and road crashes every 5 minutes occur due to insomnia. That translates to about 100,000 crashes and 1500 deaths every year. The reason is simple: fatigue impairs your brain functions as badly as alcohol. Furthermore if you happen to only have 4 hours of sleep and drink an oz of alcohol, fatigue will increase the alcohol effect a few times more.
Even the sleep changes that are associated with daylight saving time and during the holiday seasons, with the added stresses of shopping, parties, traveling, and year-end workloads, can and do result in more accidents.
2. You die faster if you’re sleeping less than 80% of the time you are in bed.
This was the result of a study done over 19 years to find out if people who take longer than 30 minutes to fall asleep would die faster than those who fall asleep easily (Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 2005).
3. You are four times more likely to suffer from major depression.
People most at risk of first-time depression are those with severe “middle insomnia,” i.e. you wake up frequently during the night, but eventually fall back to sleep each time. This actually describes nearly everyone at some stage of our lives (Journal of Behavioral Sleep Medicine 2005)
Another dramatic revelation from two new studies show insomnia, far from being a symptom or side effect of depression as commonly thought, may instead make some people more likely to not only BECOME but REMAIN mentally ill.
4. You are twice as likely to turn alcoholic if your sleeping problem started due to excessive worries.
5. You have higher and doubled risk of suffering from panic and anxiety disorders within the following year.
If you want to take medications to help you sleep because you are in a great deal of pain, are traveling, or just need to get some sleep, pay attention to the type of medication you choose and try to use it only when you really need it.
