The importance of a good night’s rest cannot be overstated. Poor sleep is linked to all-cause mortality, which means getting too little or too much sleep are “significant predictors of death,” according to a 2010 meta-analysis study. But good sleep is increasingly a privilege, as stress, workloads, and the trappings of a modern lifestyle squeeze out valuable shut-eye.
Naturally, there are medications that aim to fix this problem. Home remedies like extracts of valerian root, a pinkish-white flower, have existed in North America since the mid-19th century. Contemporary drugs like Ambien, an insomnia drug, or melatonin, a sleep-related hormone the body naturally produces, make up an industry generating $70 billion per year. But whether they actually help is a different question.
Here’s how sleeping pills actually work, the potential risk of side effects, and how they affect our circadian rhythm and sleep cycle.
How Do Sleeping Pills Work?
All sleeping pills work essentially the same way, by boosting production of a neurotransmitter known as GABA. GABA helps to quiet down the activity of neurons in our brains, and it’s an important part of our sleep cycles.
