America is facing the high cost of lack of sleep according to a recent study by prescription management company, Medco, as reported by Reuters, New York, today. However, the study didn't begin to measure the more important costs associated with the problem of sleep disturbance.

According to the study, among adults aged 20 to 44, use of sleep medications doubled between 2000 and 2004, while spending among this age group for a restful night jumped 190 percent over that period. The numbers were even more startling among children aged 10 to 19 with use of sleep aids up 85 percent and spending up a  full 223 percent over 2000 levels.

Medco's data analysis from the first six months of 2004 showed that 15 percent of the children taking sleep medicines were also using drugs to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This raises interesting questions as to whether the disorder or the medication treating it may be causing the sleep problems.

The study also found that women among all age groups were far more likely to use sleep aids than men, with the largest disparity, 58 percent higher, among women aged 20 to 64. The elderly remain the most frequent users of sleep aids, however the study makes it clear that younger adults and children are using medication for sleep with greater frequency.

More than 70 million people in the United States may be affected by a sleep problem, such as insomnia or sleep apnea, with some 60 percent of them suffering from a chronic sleep disorder, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Sleep drugs have clearly become big business. Americans filled more than 35 million prescriptions for sleeping pills in 2004, spending $2.1 billion, Medco said, citing NIH statistics. Global Sales of Ambien, the world's most popular prescription sleep drug made by Sanofi-Aventis, hit $1.76 billion in 2004.

The real costs cannot be measured in dollars however. Sleep is an essential determinant of health and artificial sleep inducers, such as the medications addressed in the study, do not provide suitable quality sleep for long term good health.

One has to wonder what are the causes of this dramatic change in the sleep behavior of so many Americans. I am certain there are many, but high on any list should be the identification and exploitation of a market by the drug manufacturers. This further exemplifies the lack of morality within the pharmaceutical industry and among those who actively promote its products.

There will be a health deficit fallout associated with this situation. Perhaps in time it too will be quantified and reported. I would prefer not to wait for that! Wouldn't it better if the underlying causes of the sleep problems were addressed? Sleeping pills are not a good, or smart or healthful part of the solution but they are certainly part of the growing problem.