It seems Americans are finally saying no to sleep medications. A team of researchers has seen a declining trend in the usage of the drugs lately.

There was a “rapid rise” in the usage of sleep medications over the previous few many years, the University of Florida (UF) noted in a news release. A number of the reasons behind this increase is “direct-to-consumer” marketing, in addition to people’s higher awareness in regards to the importance of sleep on health.

In consequence, there have been various efforts to extend people’s awareness of the possible antagonistic effects of sleep medications, researchers wrote within the paper, published within the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. Steps were also taken to discourage the “over-prescription” of such medications.

“(H)owever, it’s unknown whether these efforts translated right into a decline in use of those medications in america,” they wrote. “We assessed recent national trends in the usage of medications used for sleep disturbance.”

Data from 29,400 participants within the 2013-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey showed that usage of medicines for sleep disturbance actually dropped by 31% from 2013 to 2018. The strongest decline was in Food and Drug Administration-approved medications, which saw a 55% drop.

This was most distinguished within the group of individuals aged 80 and above, who’re most vulnerable to falls that may lead to injury after they use sleep medications, researchers said. On this age group, the usage of sleep medications dropped a whopping 86% throughout the study period.

Based on the researchers, this might possibly be an effect of the efforts taken to lift awareness about these drugs.

“I used to be surprised and encouraged by the outcomes because there’s been an amazing deal of effort to attenuate the long-term use of those pharmaceutical agents,” study writer Christopher Kaufmann, of UF, said within the news release. “We have seen deprescribing initiatives. A variety of medical organizations, advocacy groups and policymakers have also strongly discouraged the usage of these drugs to treat insomnia resulting from potential antagonistic outcomes related to their use.”

As an illustration, some people find yourself experiencing a “hangover” the day after taking sleep medications, in response to the Cleveland Clinic. They will experience drowsiness, “muddled considering” or have balance problems. Not only can this impact their performance at college or work, but it surely may additionally prove to be problematic for tasks like driving.

The findings of the study show a “good” trend, said study senior writer Atul Malhotra, of the University of California, San Diego. Nonetheless, he clarified that the drugs aren’t necessarily “inappropriate” for everybody.

“I believe these medications might be quite useful for some patients,” Malhotra said. “There may be a stigma attached to being on Valium or Ambien long-term. People think it’s an issue. And I’d actually relatively not be on those medications than on them. But we’d like to recollect there is also a risk with having untreated insomnia. There are ailing effects of poor sleep that cannot be ignored.”

The team also noted the necessity for further research into whether the move away from drug usage actually led to “improved population sleep health.”