Can Sleeping Pills Lay My Coronavirus Fears To Rest?

Getting to the heart of medical matters

- Dr Rosemary Leonard

Q I’VE always had a tendency to wake up in the early hours and then find it difficult to get back to sleep. But in the last few weeks it has got much worse. I’m overweight and because of my age I’ve been terrified of getting coronavirus as I know I could be badly affected.

I’m finding it hard to concentrate on anything during the day and because I’m not getting enough sleep I don’t have the energy to exercise. I’ve tried sleep remedies from the chemist but they haven’t made any difference.

Would it be OK to ask my doctor for sleeping pills, I’m 67? I don’t want to waste her time.

A The Covid pandemic hasn’t just caused terrible physical illness, but has had a huge effect on mental health as well. Waking early is a classic sign of depression, which is often linked with anxiety and it sounds as if you are finding it impossible to switch off from worrying about coronavirus infection.

Sleeping pills – whether herbal from the chemist or on prescription from your doctor – are not the answer to this. They don’t give a natural night’s sleep and, more importantly, they don’t tackle the underlying problem causing the sleep disturbance. Antidepressant medication, which can also help relieve anxiety, is likely to be far more beneficial to you and can also help improve sleep. Be warned, however, that to begin with they can sometimes make sleep disturbance a bit worse.