New study finds that common sleeping aids worsen sleep in older adults
One of adulthood’s quiet regrets is not sleeping more when we had the chance. Yet sleep seems to get even more elusive with age. Many older adults struggle with restless nights or find themselves waking before sunrise. Nearly half of older adults don’t get enough sleep, and about one in three rely on sleeping pills to cope.
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But new research suggests those medications may backfire. A recent study found that long-term use of sleeping pills among older adults with insomnia was linked to poorer sleep quality—even worse than in those who had insomnia but didn’t take the drugs.
Sleep Aids Cause Poor Quality of Sleep
A new study published in the Sleep journal found that older adults who regularly used prescription sleep aids had less deep, restorative sleep, compared to those who don’t take the drugs.
Dr. Thanh Dang-Vu, the lead author of the study and director of the Sleep, Cognition & Neuroimaging Laboratory at Concordia University, told Nifty 50+ that chronic use of commonly prescribed sleeping pills “does not provide benefits in terms of sleep quality.”
He added that their use “is not only risky but also worsens sleep quality—in particular by affecting aspects of sleep that are important for brain health and memory consolidation.” Dang-Vu is also a neurologist and researcher at the Montreal Geriatric University Institute (IUGM) and vice president of research for the Canadian Sleep Society.
Deep sleep, also called slow-wave sleep, is when heart rate, breathing, and blood pressure drop and the body releases hormones that repair tissues and strengthen bones. It’s also the stage when the body and brain do most of their overnight repair work. During this stage of sleep, the brain consolidates memories, transferring them from short- to long-term storage by allowing the hippocampus (the brain’s memory hub) to communicate efficiently with the neocortex.
Slow-wave sleep is especially sensitive to sleep loss. And when older adults get less of this deep, restorative sleep, it can make memory and thinking problems worse as the connection between the hippocampus and neocortex weakens, making it harder for the brain to organize and hold onto new information. This, in turn, may accelerate age-related memory decline.
Researchers from Concordia University in Canada followed 101 older adults divided into three groups: good sleepers, those with insomnia who didn’t use sleep aids, and those with insomnia who used them chronically (three or more times a week for over three months). Participants underwent overnight polysomnography, which records physiological functions during sleep, including brain waves, breathing, and heart rate.
The Problem With Sleeping Aids
For many older adults, a pill at bedtime can seem like the simplest fix, but long-term use comes with a cost.
Benzodiazepines and similar medications are considered safe and effective for brief use (no longer than two to four weeks), such as for jet lag or temporary stress. They work by enhancing the effect of a brain chemical that slows brain activity and produces a calming, sleep-inducing effect. However, clinical guidelines recommend that older adults avoid them entirely because of their potential risks like confusion, dizziness, fainting, falls, and hospitalizations.
Older adults are especially vulnerable since their bodies process these drugs more slowly and their brains are more sensitive to their effects, which makes side effects stronger and longer lasting.
These medications are also considered second-line treatments because they don’t address the underlying cause of poor sleep. And importantly, benzodiazepines aren’t meant for long-term use because they’re highly addictive. Over time, users may need higher doses to achieve the same effect, leading to dependence.
Stopping abruptly can cause withdrawal symptoms even at normal or low doses. Symptoms may include anxiety, irritability, fatigue, weakness, and gastrointestinal problems, and in rare cases, seizures.
The risks are compounded in older adults, whose cognitive functions like memory and processing speed naturally decline with age. Research shows that benzodiazepines can further impair these abilities, amplifying the cognitive effects of aging. People who regularly use sleep medications are also about 30% more likely to develop dementia than those who don’t.
Chronic use doesn’t just carry long-term risks—it may also undermine the very sleep it’s meant to help. Dang-Vu explained that chronic use of sleeping pills leads to shallow and less restorative sleep. “People using these pills may not feel refreshed when they wake up from their sleep, and may be less able to remember new information.”
Older adults taking them may work with their doctors to gradually taper off the drug while beginning a cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) program, which has been shown to improve sleep quality and reduce insomnia symptoms in older adults. Sleep struggles are common in later life, and it’s understandable to want quick relief. But it’s worth making sure the solutions you turn to are truly helping you, not just tonight, but in the long run. If you are not sleeping well, talk with your doctor about what may work to help you sleep better.
