Anxiety Sleeping Disorders Cause Explosion in Prescription Sleep Aid Use

Young adults with anxiety sleeping disorders are turning to prescription sleep aids for relief at alarming rates.

A study published recently reported that college-age adults' use of prescription sleep drugs has almost tripled over the last 8 years. In 1998, just 599 of every 100,000 people took sleeping meds. By 2006, that number had skyrocketed to 1,524 of every 100,000 people.

The presence of psychiatric disorders is a possible explanation of why young adults are increasingly relying on sleeping meds. Mental illnesses like depression and anxiety can lead to insomnia.

Regardless of the psychiatric disorder, physicians concur that habitual use of sleeping medication has deleterious effects. The trend worries clinicians because all sleeping meds are habit-forming to some degree, and chronic use may result in dependency.