ATLANTA — Can’t get enough shuteye? Nearly 9 million U.S. adults take prescription sleeping pills — and most are white, female, educated or 50 or older, according to the first government study of its kind.
Experts think millions more people try over-the-counter medicines or chamomile tea, or simply suffer through sleepless nights.
“Not everyone is running out to get a prescription drug,” said Russell Rosenberg, an Atlanta-based sleep researcher.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study was based on interviews with about 17,000 adults from 2005 through 2010. Overall, 4 percent of adults said they had taken a prescription sleeping pill or sedative in the previous month.
The study did not say whether use is increasing. But a CDC researcher calculated that use rose from 3.3 percent in 2003-2006 to 4.3 percent in 2007-2010.
