Dalhousie researchers study insomnia to address Canadian sleeping pill usage
16% of older adults in Nova Scotia use sleeping pills and Atlantic Canada has the highest rates in the country
Jan 31, 2021 1:59 PM By: Chris Stoodley
Dalhousie University researchers are studying insomnia in response to sleeping pill usage in Canada.
Atlantic Canada has the highest rate of sleeping pill usage among older adults in the country.
In Canada, an average of 10 per cent of people 65 and older regularly use sleeping pills. In New Brunswick, that rate is 25 per cent; in Nova Scotia, it s 16 per cent.
“Our focus is on those who are most vulnerable to the plagues of sleep as well as the plagues of sleeping pills in terms of their side effects,” David Gardner, a professor in Dalhousie University’s department of psychiatry and college of pharmacy, told NEWS 95.7.