Are the "Sleep Disturbing" Pills You Are Taking Actually Worsening Your Sleep?

Do patients with intake of drugs labelled as sleep 

disturbing really sleep worse? A population 

based assessment from the Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study.

1. Anna-Therese Lehnich^1,*, 
2. Bernd Kowall¹,
3. Oliver Kuß², 
4. Andrea Schmidt-Pokrzywniak³, 
5. Gerhard Weinreich⁴, 
6. Nico Dragano⁵,
7. Susanne Moebus¹, 
8. Raimund Erbel¹, 
9. Karl-Heinz Jöckel¹ and
10. Andreas Stang^1,6

DOI: 10.1111/bcp.13015

Abstract from study discussing the efficacy of the claim that drugs labelled as "sleep disturbing" actually worsen sleep. -JR

http://www.helpguide.org/images/sleep/sleeping-pills-350.jpg

Keywords:

• adverse drug reaction;
• drug intake;
• sleep disturbances;
• summary of product characteristics

Aim

The sleep disturbing effect of many drugs is derived from clinical trials with highly selected patient collectives. However, the generalizability of such findings to the general population is questionable. Our aim was to assess the association between intake of drugs labelled as sleep disturbing and self-reported nocturnal sleep disturbances in a population-based study.

Methods

We used data of 4,221 participants (50.0% male) aged 45 to 75 years from the baseline examination of the Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study in Germany. The interview provided information on difficulties falling asleep, difficulties maintaining sleep and early morning arousal. We used the summary of product characteristics (SPC) for each drug taken and assigned the probability of sleep disturbances. Thereafter, we calculated cumulative probabilities of sleep disturbances per subject to account for polypharmacy. We estimated prevalence ratios (PR) using log Poisson regression models with robust variance.

Results

The adjusted PRs of any regular nocturnal sleep disorder per additional sleep disturbing drug were 1.01 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.97-1.06) and 1.03 (95% CI: 1.00-1.07) for men and women, respectively. Estimates for each regular nocturnal sleep disturbance were similarly close to 1. PRs for regular nocturnal sleep disturbances did not increase with rising cumulative probability for drug-related sleep disturbances.

Conclusions

SPC-based probabilities of drug-related sleep disturbances showed barely any association with self-reported regular nocturnal sleep disturbances. We conclude that SPC-based probability information may lack generalizability to the general population or may be of limited data quality.

FULL STUDY HERE:

Do patients with intake of drugs labelled as sleep disturbing really sleep worse? A population based assessment from the Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study. (n.d.). Retrieved June 20, 2016, from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bcp.13015/abstract

Teenagers proscribed anti-anxiety or sleep medications more likely to abuse them

When teenagers are proscribed anti-anxiety or sleep medication, they are more likely to abuse those drugs later in life.

The medical community may be inadvertently creating a new generation of illegal, recreational drug users by prescribing anti-anxiety or sleep medications to teenagers, say University of Michigan researchers.

Teens prescribed anxiety or sleep medications are up to 12 times more likely to abuse those drugs than those who had never had a prescription, either by using someone else's prescription pills or to get high or experiment, according to a study from the U-M School of Nursing.

Nearly 9 percent of the 2,745 adolescent study participants had received a prescription for anxiety or sleep medications during their lifetime, and more than 3 percent received at least one prescription during the three-year study period.

"I recognize the importance of these medications in treating anxiety and sleep problems," said the study's first author Carol Boyd, the Deborah J. Oakley Professor of Nursing. "However, the number of adolescents prescribed these medications and the number misusing them is disturbing for several reasons."

Anxiety and sleep medications can be addictive or even fatal when mixed with narcotics or alcohol, said Boyd, who is also a professor of women's studies and research professor at the Institute for Research on Women and Gender and at the U-M Addiction Research Center in the Department of Psychiatry.

"What happened to [actor] Heath Ledger could happen to any teen who is misusing these medications, particularly if the teen uses alcohol in combination with these drugs," Boyd said.

Examples of anti-anxiety medications include Klonopin, Xanax and Ativan; sleep medications include Ambien, Restoril and Lunesta. These are controlled substances partly because of the potential for abuse, and it's a felony to share them, Boyd said.

The U-M study included students from five Detroit-area schools grouped into three categories: those never prescribed anxiety or sleep medications; those prescribed those medications within the three-year study period; and those previously prescribed those medications but not during the study period.

Key findings include:

Adolescents prescribed anxiety medications during their lifetime, but not during the study, were 12 times more likely to use someone else's anxiety medication than participants who had never been prescribed such drugs.

Those prescribed anxiety or sleep medications during the study period were 10 times more likely to abuse them within two years, to get high or to experiment, than teens without prescriptions.

White students were twice as likely as black students to use others' medications, and females older than 15 and teens who had prescriptions for longer periods of time were more likely to abuse the medications.

It's the first longitudinal study to determine whether teens' recent medical use of anxiety or sleep medications is associated with later taking somebody else's prescription medication illegally, either for self-treatment or recreational use.

Boyd said the group intended to write a paper about teens abusing their own prescriptions, but changed course when the results became clear.

"I looked at these numbers and said, 'There's a story here.' It just catches you off guard that so many adolescents are being prescribed these medications," Boyd said. "Why is it that our youth are anxious and sleepless? Is it because they are under stress, consuming too much caffeine or seeking an altered state? "

The study recommends better education for parents and adolescents prescribed these medications, monitoring refills and making it standard practice to give teens a substance use assessment before prescribing these drugs.

Boyd's co-authors include Elizabeth Austic, Quyen Epstein-Ngo, Philip Veliz and Sean Esteban McCabe of the U-M Institute for Research on Women and Gender. Epstein-Ngo also has appointments at the U-M Injury Research Center and Institute for Clinical and Health Research.

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Astronauts and sleep deprivation

A recent study found that astronauts suffer from chronic sleep deprivation and many compensate with sleeping pills.

The researchers at the Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Harvard Medical School and colleagues found that astronauts get around six hours of sleep during training and space flights. Also, several astronauts use sleeping pills, which could affect their performance during an emergency situation.

The study was conducted over a ten-year period and included data from 64 astronauts on 80 Shuttle missions and 21 astronauts on International Space Station (ISS) missions. This is the largest study of its kind, researchers say.

Sleeping in the shuttle or ISS is difficult because the Sun rises every 90 minutes. The several sunrises and sunsets coupled with excitement of being in space and living in closed quarters can severely affect sleep schedules.

"Sleep deficiency is pervasive among crew members," stated Laura K. Barger, PhD, associate physiologist in the BWH Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders and lead author of the study, according to a news release. "It's clear that more effective measures are needed to promote adequate sleep in crew members, both during training and space flight, as sleep deficiency has been associated with performance decrements in numerous laboratory and field-based studies."

The researchers found that despite NASA's recommendation that astronauts get at least 8.5 hours of sleep per night, crew members in training slept for less than six hours, while those in flight slept for about 6.09 hours on an average.

Another major find of the study was that astronauts were using sleeping pills such as zolpidem and zaleplon. Around 78 percent of shuttle-mission crew members used medication on 52 percent of flights.

Sleep-medication usage during space flights is problematic because research has shown that these drugs affect problem-solving abilities.

"The ability for a crew member to optimally perform if awakened from sleep by an emergency alarm may be jeopardized by the use of sleep-promoting pharmaceuticals," said Barger in a news release.

The researchers said that this study shows that it is important to promote healthy sleeping habits in astronauts. Future missions to Mars or beyond would require people who can cope with living in space for extended periods of time. Some measures such as exposure to specific wavelength of light could help regulate sleep pattern in space.

The study is published in the journal The Lancet Neurology. 

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Ways to treat insomnia

This article discusses insomnia and how to treat it.

Insomnia is difficulty getting to sleep or staying asleep for long enough for an individual to feel refreshed the next morning, even if one has had enough opportunity to sleep. Sleep is the natural state of unconsciousness that enables one’s body to rest. During such state, the body goes through various sleep stages in a cycle like drowsiness, light sleep, deep sleep and dreaming.  insomnia or in other word sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder which exhibits an inability to fall asleep or to stay asleep as long as desired.

Definition of normal sleep remains difficult since people differ on the basis of age, diet, environments and lifestyles – factors that play a role in determining the amount of sleep one need. Notably, insomnia is not the only sleep disorder although it is the most common sleep complaints; hence it at times becomes a symptom of another problem which differs from one person to another. insomnia can be classified as transient, acute or chronic.

Treatment of insomnia requires its cause for instance, if it is caused by an underlying medical condition or not.insomnia can be treated by the following means:

Ensuring good sleep hygiene

A general practitioner may assist you in knowing what to do in order to get sleep – also known as good sleep hygiene. Tips for good sleep hygiene include establishing set times for going to bed and waking up, making sure you relax before going to bed, ensuring a comfortable sleeping environment, avoiding a daytime nap, avoiding late night caffeine, nicotine and alcohol, avoiding exercise four hours to bedtime, avoiding eating a heavy meal late in the night, avoiding glancing at the clock all through the night and using the bedroom only when you want to sleep and sex.

If your insomnia lasts more than four weeks, your general practitioner may either recommend cognitive and behavioral treatments or short course of sleeping tablets for immediate relief.

Cognitive and behavioral treatments

This is aimed at changing unhelpful thoughts and behaviors that may be contributing to insomnia. This includes stimulus control therapy which helps remove factors that condition one’s mind to resist sleep, sleep restriction therapy – increasing the time one spends in bed by improving sleep, relaxation training to help you calm your mind and body through muscle relaxation, imagery and meditation, paradoxical intention which refers to letting go of any worry that keeps you awake and biofeedback – a method that allows the observation of biological signs like muscle tension and heart rate and shows you how to adjust them. CBT-I is at times performed by a specially trained general practitioner or a clinical psychologist.

Sleeping tablets

Sleeping tablets are drugs that promote sleep. They are usually used when you have a severe insomnia, to relieve short term insomnia and in case the above mentioned behavioral treatments prove ineffective. Doctors are mostly reluctant to administer sleeping tablets as they don’t treat the cause of insomnia and have side effects such as a feeling of hungover and daytime drowsiness. Examples of sleeping tablets are discussed below.

Benzodiazepines are tranquillizers that can lessen anxiety and encourage coolness, relaxation and sleep. This medicine should only be given to a person with severe insomnia or if it causes acute suffering as it makes that person sleepy and can also lead to dependency.

Z medicines are current kinds of medicines that work in a comparable way to benzodiazepines. Z medicines include zaleplon, zolpidem and zopiclone.

Zaleplon should be used in people with insomnia who have problem falling asleep and in lowest possible dose as it has side effects such as memory problems, painful periods in women, sleepiness, apathy, balance and coordination problems, concentration problems, changed sense of smell, dizziness and hallucinations.

Zolpidem is for unbearable insomnia causing severe stress. Its side effects are diarrhea, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, headaches, tiredness and sleep difficulty like sleep walking and stomach pains.

Zopiclone is for short-term treatment including waking up during the night, difficulty falling asleep causing severe distress. It should be used in its lowest possible dose as side effects include dry mouth, metallic taste in the mouth, sleepiness, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, drowsiness and headaches.

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An app to treat insomnia

A new phone app from the UK claims to treat insomnia more effectively than sleeping pills can.

We’ve all encountered apps capable of putting users to sleep, but that’s rarely their stated intention. Now one doctor has released a piece of software she claims will replace sleeping pills and help send insomniacs into a deep slumber.

Dr Kirstie Anderson, one of the UK’s foremost sleep experts, has made a career out of studying how humans nod off. Working with tech experts at Teeside University, Newcastle, she created an app called Sleepstation which she claimed is more effective than drugs.

She said: “I’m a neurologist that specializes in sleep disorders, there isn’t a great deal of us that work in sleep medicine. The most common sleep disorder is insomnia, which many of us will suffer from at some point in our lives.

“But the people who have chronic insomnia dread climbing the stairs and going to bed. It’s a life-altering condition that has a massive health and well-being impact.”

Her app uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) techniques to ensure a good night’s rest. Based on a recognized and effective treatment for insomnia, it shows users videos detailing the best ways to sleep and allows them to keep a diary .

“The CBT for insomnia program is a very good simple package with lots of research evidence for benefit,” Anderson continued. “It works at least as well as sleeping tablets, but without any of the side effects, and lasts for longer. Up to 80% of people who receive the treatment see improved sleep following the program.”

In clinical tests, more than 80 percent of insomniacs reported better sleep after using Sleepstation. Key to its success is the level of interactivity it offers. It is personalized for each user and changes its advice based on their sleep pattern. Insomniacs are first assessed by a doctor, before being supported remotely as they go through the CBT course, which is exactly the same one already offered by NHS staff.

If it’s money worries that are keeping you up at night, this app probably won’t help. At £59 ($100), it isn’t exactly the cheapest app on the market. But in the UK, the National Health Service are now prescribing it, meaning that insomniacs will be able to get it for free, or at a nominal cost.

“Between five to 10% of the population will have chronic insomnia at any stage and it affects other parts of a person’s wellbeing,” Anderson added. “If you’ve had a first bout of depression one of the most important risk factors for a second bout of depression is ongoing insomnia.

“The main treatment for insomnia at the moment is sleeping pills, with 10 million people taking then nationally. These pills come with a lot of side effects and little effect on chronic insomnia. Bearing this in mind SleepStation really could make a massive difference to potentially millions of people’s lives.”

SleepStation is not the first sleep app and is unlikely to be the last. Sleep As Android, for instance, and Sleep Cycle both monitor a snoozing person’s sleeping pattern and then wake them at the optimal point in the morning.SleepRate goes a step further by  shipping along with a heart rate monitor, which is strapped to an insomniac’s chest when they go to bed. A unique sleep plan is then drawn up based on the results. There are even apps which allows you to count sheep,  a distinctly old school method of getting your head down.

Nonetheless, Anderson’s link up with the NHS will give her app’s chances of success a clear boost, although it won’t help outside of the UK. With so many apps already on the market, Anderson had better make sure she’s not caught napping if she wants to beat the competition.

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CDC's report on sleeping pills

This article discusses the recent report by the CDC on sleep pill usage that showed 4% of adults have used sleep aids in the past month, that more older people use sleeping aids, and that more women than men use sleep aids.

A new study shows that many Americans continually look to sleep aids in order to get a good night's rest. In fact, around 4 percent of Americans use prescription sleep aids, according to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC). Yet many still question the drug's side effects and effectiveness.

A national survey between 2005 and 2010 showed that about 4 percent of adults ages 20 and over reported taking prescription sleep aids in the past 30 days. Approximately 2 percent of the younger age group, 20 to 39, reported using sleeping pills, while 6 percent ranging in age from 50 to 59 reported using them. Ages 80 and up reported a 7 percent use.

The study showed that the rate of use also depended on gender, race and ethnicity. For instance, about 5 percent of women used prescription sleep aids compared to about 3 percent of men. While adults were also more likely to use sleep aids than black or Mexican-American men.

"More authorities think that use of sleeping pills should be minimized," said Dr. Daniel Kripke, professor emeritus of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, via Live Science.

Prescription sleep aids can be used as a treatment for those who have trouble falling asleep as many of the medications can work by suppressing activities in the nervous system. In fact, some estimates show that 50 to 70 million Americans suffer from sleep disorders or deprivation. This problem can greatly harm their daily function and may also adversely affect their health, according to CDC researchers.

Researchers looked at 33,000 people to find that the use of common sleep medications caused a greater risk of dying prematurely and even some type of cancer.

The CDC survey showed that when people slept for durations of greater or less than 7 hours, sleep aids use often increased. As for people who slept less than five hours a day, they were more likely to sleep nine hours a day and had the highest use of prescription sleep aid compared to those who reported getting seven hours a day.

Findings also showed that one in six people were diagnosed with a sleep disorder and up to one in eight reported problems with sleep. However, it's not clear whether the medications are effective at helping patients get a good night's rest or helping them feel refreshed in the morning.

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FDA Requires Lower Dosage of Sleep Medication for Women

The FDA is now requiring a cut in the recommended doses of sleeping medication for women.

The FDA is requiring manufacturers of certain popular sleepmedications such as Ambien and Zolpimist to cut current recommended doses in half for women. The agency says blood levels of the drugs could still be high enough the following morning to affect activities that require alertness, such as driving.

The agency is also recommending that the labeling of these medications suggest that health care professionals consider a lower dose for men.

Women appear to be more susceptible to a lingering effect because they eliminate the drug’s active ingredient, zolpidem, from their bodies more slowly than men, a statement from the FDA notes.

The action applies to zolpidem products approved for bedtime use, marketed as generics and under the brand names Ambien, Ambien CR, Edluar, and Zolpimist. Data show the risk of morning impairment is highest with extended-release forms of these drugs.

"Because use of lower doses of zolpidem will result in lower blood levels in the morning, FDA is requiring the manufacturers of Ambien, Ambien CR, Edluar, and Zolpimist to lower the recommended dose," the FDA statement notes. "FDA is continuing to evaluate the risk of impaired mental alertness with other insomniadrugs, including over-the-counter (OTC) drugs available without a prescription."

Specific recommendations are:

• The dose of zolpidem for women should be lowered from 10 mg to 5 mg for immediate-release products (Ambien, Edluar, and Zolpimist) and from 12.5 mg to 6.25 mg for extended-release products (Ambien CR).
• For zolpidem and other insomnia drugs, doctors should prescribe the lowest dose that treats the patient's symptoms.
• Inform patients that impairment from sleep drugs can be present, despite feeling fully awake.

The recommended doses of Intermezzo, a lower-dose zolpidem product approved for middle-of-the-night awakenings, are not changing. At the time of Intermezzo’s approval in November 2011, the label already recommended a lower dose for women than for men.

The FDA has prepared a list of questions and answers to provide an additional overview of this safety issue.

More information on today's announcement is available on the FDA web site.

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Study: Sleeping Pills Owe Half Their Benefits to Placebo Effect

A new study claims that half of the benefit people see from using sleeping pills is due to the placebo affect.

Half of the benefit of taking sleeping pills comes from the placebo effect, according to a major new study published in theBritish Medical Journal.

Researchers re-analysed results from more than a dozen clinical trials of the most common type of sleeping tablets, known as Z-drugs (non-benzodiazepine hypnotics).

These drugs are frequently used in the UK and USA as a short-term treatment for insomnia with almost £25m worth of prescriptions handed out in Britain each year. However, some health experts have questioned whether the benefits of Z-drugs justify their side effects, which can include memory loss, fatigue and impaired balance.

Questions have also been raised about the validity of published research into the effects of these drugs based on trials sponsored by pharmaceutical companies themselves.

Academics from the University of Lincoln, Harvard Medical School and University of Connecticut conducted a meta-analysis of data from clinical trials of Z-drugs comparing drug effects with placebo effects. This type of comparison enables researchers to determine how much of the drug effect comes from the constituents of the drug itself, and how much is due to other factors (like the placebo response or regression to the mean).

They used data submitted by pharmaceutical companies to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval of new products. This included 13 clinical trials containing 65 different comparisons and more than 4,300 participants.

The FDA collates results from both published and unpublished studies, enabling researchers to avoid common types of bias (such as reporting bias) which can undermine other research based on sponsored trials.

Their findings, published in this week's British Medical Journal(17th December 2012), indicate that once the placebo effect is discounted, the drug effect is of 'questionable clinical importance'.

Lead author Professor Niroshan Siriwardena, from the School of Health and Social Care at the University of Lincoln, said: "Our analysis showed that Z-drugs did reduce the length of time it took for subjects to fall asleep, both subjectively and as measured in a sleep lab, but around half of the effect of the drug was a placebo response.

"There was not enough evidence from the trials to show other benefits that might be important to people with sleep problems, such as sleep quality or daytime functioning.

"We know from other studies that around a fifth of people experience side effects from sleeping tablets and one in one hundred older people will have a fall, fracture or road traffic accident after using them.

"Psychological treatments for insomnia can work as effectively as sleeping tablets in the short-term and better in the long-term, so we should pay more attention to increasing access to these treatments for patients who might benefit."

He said future studies of sleeping tablets should investigate a broader range of outcomes, not just time taken to fall asleep, and that pharmaceutical companies should be more transparent in disclosing results from their studies so that researchers can independently analyse their results.

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Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Sleep Disorder Epidemic

A clinical trial shows that sufficient levels of vitamin D3 results in normal sleep regardless of the sleep disorder present.

Vitamin D is known as the "Sunshine Vitamin" because spending time outdoors in the sun is known to increase vitamin D in the body via the skin. Our ancestors spent a considerable amount of their time outdoors, but for the first time in history, large amounts of the world population spend most of their time inside their offices and homes. Researchers at the East Texas Medical Center and the University of North Carolina have discovered that vitamin D helps to regulate the sleep-wake cycle. They've found a definite link between vitamin D deficiency and the current global epidemic of sleep disorders.

Rapid eye movement sleep (REM) is one of the deepest levels of sleep. It is the level in which dreaming occurs, and its related to good memory and learning. A disruption of REM sleep or an absence of it, is one form of insomnia. Other sleep disorders include sleep apnea - which involves interrupted or obstructed breathing or snoring during the night; insomnia from hormone fluctuations such as with menstruation or menopause; restless leg syndrome; and periodic limb movement disorder, a condition where the person moves their limbs involuntarily during sleep.

The results of the clinical trial of vitamin D supplementation was published in a recent issue of the journal "Medical Hypothesis". The researchers followed 1500 patients over a 2 year period. A consistent level of vitamin D3 was maintained in their blood over many months. This produced normal sleep in most of the participants, regardless of their type of sleep disorder, which suggests that many types of insomnia may share the same cause. During the research, the authors discovered the presence of high concentrations of vitamin D "receiving sites" or "receptors" in those areas of the brain that are related to the onset and maintenance of sleep.

Calcium is also directly related to our cycles of sleep. In one study, published in the European Neurology Journal, researchers found that calcium levels in the body are higher during the rapid eye movement (REM) phase. This study concluded that disturbances in sleep, especially the absence of REM deep sleep or disturbed REM sleep, are related to a calcium deficiency. Restoration to the normal course of sleep was achieved following the normalization of the blood calcium level. As a note, calcium works best when its balanced with magnesium in a two to one ratio (with twice as much calcium as magnesium).

Natural insomnia remedies containing vitamin D and calcium can be helpful with both falling asleep and staying asleep during the night. One remedy that's designed for many forms of insomnia is Sleep Minerals II fromwww.NutritionBreakthroughs.com. This sleep aid contains highly absorbable forms of vitamin D3, calcium, and magnesium, the best ingredients for sleeplessness and insomnia, as well as for heart health, restless legs syndrome, bone strength, menopause insomnia and teenage insomnia. The formula is delivered in a softgel form with healthy carrier oils, making it more rapidly absorbable than tablets or capsules and providing a deeper, longer-lasting sleep.

Doctor P. P. of Houston, Texas says: "I had developed sleeping problems and took two different sleep medications over the course of several weeks. When I discontinued them, the insomnia came back even worse. I literally got about 20 hours of sleep in 6 weeks time. Sleep Minerals II was just what I needed. I've been taking it for a couple weeks and getting many hours of sleep a night. As a doctor I would definitely avoid prescribing sleeping drugs — I would recommend Sleep Minerals II."

Anita L. of New Caney, Texas says: "I was having hot flashes every 30 minutes to an hour through the night and was so miserable. After about two weeks of taking the Sleep Minerals, I noticed an incredible difference with my sleep. I have much less interruption from flashes, I'm sleeping much better, and I'm a lot more comfortable."

The authors of the vitamin D study noted that sleeping disorders have played a role in the development of medical conditions such as hypertension, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, depression, and chronic pain -- all of which have become widespread similarly to insomnia. The authors suggest further research be done on the management of vitamin D levels in a variety of medical conditions related to sleep.

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Dangers of Driving and Sleeping Pills

Dangers of Driving and Sleeping Pills

This article discusses the dangerous dise effects from driving while taking sleeping pills.

This, year doctors will prescribe sleeping aids to 60 million Americans. Ambien and its generic form Zolpidem are among the most commonly prescribed.

Fast-acting and potent, it can stay in your system for up to 12 hours. Most side effects are minor. But a less common side effect, known as "complex sleep related behaviors," is cause for concern.

"That's the sleep-driving, the eating without awareness and the sleep walking," says Dr. Jessica Vensal Rundo, of the Cleveland Clinic Sleep Disorders Center.

Sleep-driving made it into national news this summer when Kerry Kennedy, daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, sideswiped a truck and was found slumped over her car's steering wheel by a police officer.

"I remember getting on the highway and then I have no memory until I was stopped at a traffic light and there was a police officer at my car door," Kennedy told reporters, after a court appearance.

Toxicology reports show she had Ambien in her system.

Ambien was also in the system of her cousin, former Congressman Patrick Kennedy, when he crashed his car into a concrete barrier back in 2006. In both those cases no one was hurt, but that is not always the case.

In May of this year, a Texas woman got probation for driving her car into two young sisters and their mother. One of the girls suffered severe brain damage. The driver had mixed Ambien and alcohol, but had no memory at all of getting into her car and driving.

That same month, a Southern Illinois man took four Ambien just 12 hours before he drove into a highway construction crew, killing one man and injuring three others.

The drug's directions are clear: go to bed for at least 7 to 8 hours and do not drive until fully awake. Sleep driving is one of the possible side effects.

Ambien is designed to act quickly and it does.  "It's actually just as bad as drinking and driving," says Dr. Deborah McAvoy, Director of the Driving Simulation Lab at Ohio University.

Dr. McAvoy and a team of researchers are using a driving simulator to study and help improve road safety.

"This information is valuable, simply because we are trying to reduce crashes and improve safety," Dr. McAvoy explained.

Read more here