Some patients may be taking sleeping aids to mask underlying sleep disorders. CNET reports on how sleeping pills can create bigger issues for people who struggle to get quality shuteye.
For example, if someone has undiagnosed sleep apnea and turns to sleep supplements to fix their unrestful nights, it’s not going to help the problem much. Any improvement in sleep quality will only mask the underlying issue, delaying the correct treatment of using a CPAP machine.
People who suffer from sleep apnea aren’t the only example of this either — if you can’t sleep at night because you’re drinking caffeine too late in the day, taking long afternoon naps or staring at screens right before you nod off, it’s better to address the underlying problem rather than relying on a sleep supplement. The caffeine-sleep aid cycle can be vicious and hard to escape.
