Do sleep aids work?

Video Overview

Do sleep aids work? Answer: Yes and no. sleep aids work in different ways than what we really expect, both as physicians and as patients. The average patient with average sleep aid is only getting about 20 to 25 minutes more sleep. The average patients think they are getting 90 minutes or more sleep and therefore have a significant improvement in their daytime function. This seeming disconnect is real and for me, the clinical effects of daytime functions are more important. When the patients say they are doing better, their spouses say they are doing better, their kids say they are doing better, their employers say they're doing better, that's more important for me than the research showing very limited increase in the total sleeping time.