VALIUMS TOO! –
April 27, 2025 – While most side effects of sleeping pills are temporary, there now appears to be one that’s more…life-altering. “Our results are staggering to say the least. Many people rely on sleeping pills to help them sleep, so it’s a shock to find that taking them may more than double your mortality risk,” says Dr. Yu Sun, MD, Ph.D,
The authors also observed that sleeping pill users have a shorter life expectancy than non-users. Men’s life expectancy was 5.3 years shorter, and women’s was 5.7 years shorter. Additionally, sleeping pill users had a higher cancer death rate than nonusers who slept 6 to 8 hours a night.
How Could Sleeping Pills Be Affecting Mortality Risk?
Sleep scientists don’t know for certain whether it’s the sleeping pills that are causing the increased risk of death. Dr. Emma Lin, MD, a pulmonary and sleep medicine physician at ReadyO2, says people who need sleeping pills every night tend to have other health problems, including depression, anxiety or respiratory problems. All three are independently linked to poor health that may contribute to an early death.
