Canadians are hundreds of millions of dollars each year self medicating their insomnia with alcohol expenditure, suggests a new study.
"We were very surprised to see that so many people use alcohol as a way to sleep, to promote, in particular because there are more negative than positive effects on sleep," says Charles Morin, a professor of Psychology at the University of Laval and one of the authors of the study, published this week in the journal sleep.
Generally, eight percent of the sample reported using alcohol as a sleep aid. In people with insomnia reported 28% self medicating with alcohol.
The study, one of the first in Canada to numbers to the social and economic burden of insomnia, estimates the total annual cost of the sleep disorder in Quebec alone is $ 6.5 billion.
"We know insomnia is a common problem, it has a very negative impact on the quality of life of people," says Morin. "If we can show that it is 10 times more expensive is not for the treatment of insomnia because of its impact on absenteeism from work and reduced productivity than it is to treat it, why aren't we treat it more often?"
Part of the problem is that so few people search help. Morin says: some people take sleeping pills, "but there are many more who self-medicate with over-the-counter products or, worse, with alcohol."
"Why people do that? Is it because they are afraid of using sleeping pills prescribed because of the stigma associated with it, or because they don't know that there are other treatment options available? "
The research found the money spent on the use of spirits, such as a sleep aid is much greater than costs in connection with visits to doctors and the use of prescription pills and OTC-products of antihistamines to herbal tea.
"The idea that schnapps before your bedtime good for your sleep is could correct about 100 years ago, been as long as it was the occasional schnapps," says Dr. Adam Moscovitch, Medical Director of the Canadian sleep Institute and associate clinical professor at the University of Calgary.
"When you knock yourself out as a way of dealing with it, if you don't close off your thoughts in any other way, than alcohol a very negative effect on your sleep. It deprives you of one of the deepest stages of sleep and once it wears off, there is a rebound effect. So your problem is worse. "
Of the 6. USD 5 billion annual cost associated with insomnia in Quebec, the largest indirect costs by far-$ 5 billion-was reduced productivity.
The highest direct cost-$ 339.8 million-was money spent on alcohol to sleep. In comparison, an estimated $ 16.5 million was spent on medicines, and 1.8 million dollars for OTC products.
The study involved Quebec only, but the researchers are doing a similar study throughout Canada. "I expect we'll pretty much the same results," says Morin.
The study, based on a random sample of 948 adults, distinguish between those who at the end of the day drinking, and those who use drink specifically to sleep, which means that they drink before bedtime, or in the middle of the night.
Self medicating with alcohol can lead to other complications, says Moscovitch. "Alcoholism is a large, especially binge drinking." Insomnia can also lead to depression, anxiety disorders and obesity.
The worrying is that insomnia is more and more often, say sleep researchers.
True insomnia is a disruption of the significant sleep for at least a month. People have problems falling asleep, staying asleep, waking up too early or "wake up and feel like you run over by a truck were", says Moscovitch.
According to the study, between six and ten percent of the population meets the diagnostic criteria for full-blown "insomnia syndrome", and about a third symptoms "at any given time."
Canadians are living today in a stressed society with multiple pressure balancing work and family responsibilities. "One of the things that we cut back on is our sleep," says Moscovitch.
For the study, volunteers filled out questionnaires on sleep, health, doctor visits and the time of work and reduced productivity in the past three months. Of a provincial health insurance Board also collected data.
The average age of the volunteers was 44; 60 percent were women and most worked day shifts for full-time jobs.
948 Volunteers, were 493 (52%) classified as "good sleepers," 308 (33%) as symptoms of insomnia and 147 (15 percent) as a syndrome of insomnia.
According to the study was the annual cost of insomnia-related health-care visits an estimated $ 85.3 million
Any person with insomnia is costing society an estimated $ 552 a year in work-related absence and $ 4,154 in reduced productivity due to their sleeping problems.
skirkey@CanWest.com
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