The risks of giving older people sleeping pills and other sedatives outweigh the benefits, researchers have said. 

    Many people over the age of 60 suffer from insomnia, which has severe effects on quality of life. 

    But an analysis of research published in the British Medical Journal suggests that giving them sleeping pills may actually do more harm than good. 

    Between 5 per cent and 33 per cent of older people in the UK and North America are prescribed sleeping pills such as benzodiazepine. 

    Researchers from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, Canada, looked at 24 studies carried out between 1966 and 2003 involving 2,417 people, considering the effects of sedatives and sleeping pills. 

    They concluded that the adverse effects among older people taking sedatives, including dizziness, loss of balance, falls and disorientation - were significant enough to make them think non-drug treatments could be a better way of tackling insomnia. 

     The team found that effects such as dizziness or loss of balance - psychomotor-type side-effects - were reported in 13 of the studies it looked at. 

    The researchers said seven of the 59 psychomotor effects that were reported in these studies were serious - six falls and one car crash. 

    They did say there were many potential benefits for people taking sedatives, such as more uninterrupted sleep, ease of getting to sleep and the amount of time spent sleeping. 

    But they concluded there were indications that older patients are more than twice as likely to experience an adverse event taking drugs to help them sleep as they are to gain a better quality of sleep. 

    "Although the improvements in sleep variables obtained from prescription sedative hypnotics are statistically significant, the effect size is small, and the clinical benefits may be modest at best," the researchers said. 

    "The added risk of an adverse event may not justify these benefits, particularly in a high risk elderly population." 

    Non-drug therapies, such as cognitive behaviour therapy, have been found to be useful in helping older people deal with insomnia, they said. 

    "Because fewer risks are associated with behavioural therapies, they may be a viable treatment alternative in a healthy elderly population with no cognitive impairment," the researchers added. 

   很多60岁以上的老年人都受到了失眠症的困扰，这严重影响到了他们的生活质量。因此，这些老人选择服用安眠药片来帮助他们获得更好的睡眠。但是，日前发表在《英国医学杂志》上的一份分析文章却指出，让这些老人服用安眠药物实际上是弊大于利。 

    据《每日邮报》11月11日报道，加拿大多伦多毒瘾及精神健康中心的工作人员对1966年至2003年间实施的24项相关研究进行了分析，研究共涉及2417人，旨在判断镇静剂及安眠药片的疗效。 

    分析结果显示，老年人服用镇静剂的不良后果包括头昏眼花、身体失去平衡、跌倒及丧失知觉等。而这足以让他们考虑采取一种更好的不用吃药的方法来对抗失眠。研究小组发现，24项研究中的13项都提到了服药后出现诸如头昏眼花、丧失知觉等副作用。 

    研究人员称，他们并不否认人们服用镇静剂会有很多潜在的好处，如睡眠不易被打扰、容易入睡以及睡眠时间充分等。但他们同时指出，老年人却并不适宜服用此类药物，他们更容易受到药物副作用的影响。相比较起来，其它一些不用服药的方法，如认知行为疗法则更适合于老年人用来对抗失眠症。