Dr. Oz: Anxiety and Sleep Meds Linked to Alzheimer’s Disease

Dr. Oz: Anxiety and Sleep Meds Linked to Alzheimer’s Disease

Dr. Oz talked about disturbing news that anxiety and sleep meds may be linked to Alzheimer’s disease. People with Alzheimer’s are 50 percent more likely to have taken benzodiazepines. The longer the people took the drugs, the greater the risk.

Alzheimer’s Disease rates are currently skyrocketing worldwide and it’s time we looked at these medications and their role in that. Here are the facts: over 100 prescriptions for these meds are written every year, the prescriptions are rising 12.5 percent every year, and twice as many women as men take these pills.

Dr. Oz: Benzodiazepines Linked to Alzheimer’s Disease

Dr. Oz talked to Dr. Gayatri Devi, who said that these are drugs we all know about, like Xanax and Valium. It’s been known for a while that these drugs damage memory and cause memory dysfunction. But there’s a new study out there that has shown a vital link between Alzheimer’s and benzodiazepines.

Unfortunately, younger people are more and more likely to use benzodiazepines. The younger you use these drugs, the more likely you are to become dependent on them. And the memory effects will affect you at any age.

Dr. Oz: How Do Benzodiazepines Work?

Dr. Oz showed scans of how the brain looks without the medications. Then he showed the way the brain looked on benzodiazepines. There was less activity in that brain. Dr. Oz said this is because the brain is numbed. You’re not better, you’re just numbing the part that’s problematic.

These drugs are meant to be used short term, under close medical supervision. If used this way, there’s little risk. But if you’re using it for a significant period of time, there’s a high risk of dependence. You’ll need it to sleep or to function.

Dr. Oz said that we need to draw a line in the sand in the medical community and really work to ease people’s dependence on these drugs before it becomes a problem.