June 23, 2025

Why Your Sleep Pills Are Speeding Up Aging - AI Podcast

8 minutes

Story at-a-glance

Both insomnia and sleep medication use independently increase disability risk in older adults, affecting basic activities like dressing, bathing and walking
Research tracking 6,722 older adults found that even mild increases in sleep troubles predicted greater physical disability in the following year
Using sleep medications worsened disability outcomes rather than improving them, with the combination of insomnia plus medication causing the steepest decline
Complete darkness during sleep is important, as even small amounts of light disrupt melatonin production and interfere with your body's natural sleep signals
Nondrug approaches like eliminating electromagnetic field (EMF) sources, avoiding blue light after sunset and regular daytime movement provide safer alternatives to sleep medications

...more

By Dr. Mercola

4.6

14821,482 ratings

June 23, 2025

8 minutes

Story at-a-glance

Both insomnia and sleep medication use independently increase disability risk in older adults, affecting basic activities like dressing, bathing and walking
Research tracking 6,722 older adults found that even mild increases in sleep troubles predicted greater physical disability in the following year
Using sleep medications worsened disability outcomes rather than improving them, with the combination of insomnia plus medication causing the steepest decline
Complete darkness during sleep is important, as even small amounts of light disrupt melatonin production and interfere with your body's natural sleep signals
Nondrug approaches like eliminating electromagnetic field (EMF) sources, avoiding blue light after sunset and regular daytime movement provide safer alternatives to sleep medications

...more