Sleeping Pills

Sleeping pills have always intrigued me. My freshman year I received a free sample of sleeping pills and tried them out. I didn't see much of a difference in falling asleep, but I definitely felt more drowsy when I woke up. In the article titled CDC Details Use of Sleep Meds, John Gever details the usage of sleeping pills throughout the United States. One statistic that really caught my attention was "among individuals reporting 5 hours or less of sleep nightly, 6.0% said they used prescription sleep drugs, whereas 3.2% of those who said they averaged 7 hours nightly used sleep aids" (Gever). What I found so interesting was how high the usage of sleeping pills was for the people who recorded less than five hours of sleep. It makes me think how the usefulness of sleeping pills may differ from person to person. Maybe the reason I did not find the sleeping pills so useful is because of how the usefulness differs from person to person.

John Gever, “CDC Details Use of Sleep Meds,” Medpage, Aug. 30, 2013 (http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/SleepDisorders/41287)