(Image source from: How sleeping pills can kill you?})

We all have, at some point in our lives, taken or known people to have taken a sleeping pill. It could have been an OTC sleep aid or a more potent prescribe. But do you know that sleeping pills are more dangerous than they seem.

So what's so dangerous about these pills? Aren't they just designed to help you sleep, which is a good thing?

Most of us think that they're pretty much benign, but that isn't quite true. Agreed,sleeping pills offer a temporary quick fix to a good night’s sleep, but they are not effective long-term solution to your sleep problems in general. Worse, they can be fatal if used incorrectly.

Sleeping pills hit women much harder than men. "Women tend to metabolize sleeping pills slower than men do, but many people—including some doctors—don't know this. And when they take too high a dose, the effect is extra strong," explains Carl Bazil M.D., director of sleep and epilepsy at Columbia University.

Taking sleeping pills can leave you feeling sluggish. While they're supposed to wear off after eight hours of sleep, that drowsiness often lasts much longer in case of a high dose. In such a case, a person will have difficulty in carrying out their daily duties without any hitch.

Sleeping pills can also cause harm when you mix them with other drugs, alcohol or other stimulants. "It's not a good idea to mix sleeping pills with other drugs, ever," says Bazil. "What happens is it accentuates the effect of both of them—so you are more drugged off of both the pills and the booze or the stimulants. That means that the pill lasts longer, so chances are, you will feel more confused and groggy when you wake up," concluded Carl Bazil.

AW: Suchorita Choudhury