Many older Americans take prescription medications to help them sleep. These drugs include benzodiazepines and newer medications known as “Z-drugs,” like Ambien.
While they may seem to help with sleep, these medications come with serious risks—especially for people over 65.
Common side effects include falls, broken bones, memory problems, and even dependency. Despite warnings from medical experts, millions of older adults continue to use them.
A new study by researchers at the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics shows that reducing the use of sleep medications in older people could greatly improve their health and save money.
The researchers found that avoiding these medications could lower the number of falls by 8.5% and reduce cases of memory loss by 2.1%. On top of that, people would live an average of 1.3 months longer—and most of those extra months would be spent in good health. Across the U.S., that adds up to 1.7 million extra years of healthy life.
The findings were published in the December issue of The Lancet Regional Health—Americas. Hanke Heun-Johnson, the lead author and a research scientist at the Schaeffer Center, said the results show that cutting back on sleep meds could help older people enjoy longer, healthier lives.
An estimated 15.3 million Americans aged 50 and older take prescribed sleep medications. These drugs are more commonly used as people get older and are especially common among women and white adults.
Even though medical guidelines recommend against long-term use, doctors often continue prescribing these drugs for years. In many cases, patients become dependent, and stopping the drug causes withdrawal symptoms. This makes the medication seem helpful, when in fact it may no longer be effective.
Insomnia itself can cause serious health issues, including depression, heart problems, and memory decline. Many people take sleep meds thinking they’ll feel better, but the long-term effects can make things worse. The researchers used a tool called the Future Elderly Model to look at how sleep medication affects older adults.
They compared today’s medication use with what would happen if nobody took these drugs. They studied a range of outcomes including memory loss, falls, nursing home use, medical costs, and lifetime earnings.
Adults between the ages of 65 and 74 stood to benefit the most. If this age group avoided sleep medications, they could experience better memory and physical health. This suggests that efforts to stop unnecessary prescriptions should focus on this group.
The study also showed a financial benefit. Avoiding sleep meds could save $6,600 per person over their lifetime. Nationwide, this adds up to about $101 billion in savings—most of which come from better quality of life, not just lower healthcare costs.
Instead of medications, medical experts recommend cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). This therapy teaches people how to build better sleep habits.
It can be done in-person, online, or through smartphone apps like the Department of Veterans Affairs’ CBT-I Coach. CBT-I works just as well as medication in the short term and is more effective in the long run. Most importantly, it doesn’t have harmful side effects.
Researchers believe that small changes in how doctors prescribe medications could help reduce the use of sleep drugs.
For example, doctors could receive reminders in their computer systems that encourage them to recommend CBT-I instead of medications. Doctors might also be given reports that show how their prescribing compares to that of other doctors.
Co-author Jason Doctor, a senior scholar at the Schaeffer Center, said that while insomnia is a real concern, sleep medications often do more harm than good. Helping doctors recommend safer, proven treatments like CBT-I would benefit both patients and society as a whole.
If you care about sleep, please read studies that Sleeping pill lowers key Alzheimer’s disease markers and Scientists discover the link between sleep apnea and dementia risk.
For more health information, please read studies that Common sleep supplement could improve memory and Scientists find link between short sleep and higher risk of long COVID.
The study is published in The Lancet Regional Health—Americas.
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