Scientists Discover That Anxiety And Sleeping Pills May Cause Alzheimer’s

Benzodiazepines, often used to treat insomnia, depression and anxiety, may also trigger Alzheimer’s disease.

A study published in the British Medical Journal examined nearly 9,000 people over the age of 66 — 2,000 of whom had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers found that those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s had begun using benzodiazepines at least five years before they began showing symptoms of the disease.

Risk of Alzheimer’s increased by 43 to 51 percent for those who had used benzodiazepines in the past.

The study’s team says that there is a definitive link between drug use and the disease, although they don’t know exactly what it is yet.

Benzodiazepines temporarily limit the brain’s ability to cope with damage, so that may impair the brain in the future.

Professor Guy Goodwin, president of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, told the BBC that the link doesn’t necessarily mean that benzodiazepines are to blame, however.

He said,

[The findings] could mean that the drugs cause the disease, but is more likely to mean that the drugs are being given to people who are already ill.

In light of the study’s results, researchers recommend that benzodiazepine prescriptions be limitedby doctors.

According to the study,

Benzodiazepines are indisputably valuable tools for managing anxiety disorders and transient insomnia. As stated in international guidelines, however, treatments should be of short duration and not exceed three months.