Many of us are turning to medication to help us sleep. Picture: Thinkstock

But it is. So much so that many of us are turning to drugs to zonk out.

The issue has come to light after a landmark British study released this week found one in 10 people are taking medication to help them sleep.

Based on an extensive sleep study conducted in the UK by the University of Oxford and the Royal Society for Public Health, the report has brought to light the health risks associated with skimping on sleep.

It found four in 10 people aren’t getting enough sleep, while one in five sleep poorly most nights, representing the second most common health complaint after pain.

New parents, commuters, shift workers, party animals, and young people are among the top groups whose lifestyle affects their sleeping patterns.

In Australia, 2011 PBS figures show that there were 921,100 people (4.3 per cent of the population) who had at least one PBS subsidised prescription for Anxiolytic/Hypnotic and sedative medications filled.

Overall, females were more likely than males to have had a prescription (5.4 per cent compared with 3.1 per cent respectively). Rates of use increased with age, and particularly sharply around ages 65-74 years.

Almost one-quarter (23 per cent) of women aged 75 and over had at least one PBS subsidised prescription.

Rates of use of sleeping pills in Australia increased with age, and particularly sharply around the ages of 65 to 74. Picture: ThinkstockSource:Supplied

Australia’s Sleep Health Foundation chair Professor David Hillman said there is a major overlap between poor quality of sleep and depressive symptoms.

With more women than men suffering from anxiety and depression, the gender discrepancy is no surprise.

“Depression and anxiety are more a problem for women than men,” he said.

“Lack of sleep aggravates those symptoms.”

A major concern is that there are Australians with sleep disorders who are misdiagnosed with depressive conditions.

Professor Hillman recommends seeing a professional to pinpoint the exact cause of sleep difficulties before taking medication.

“You need to make sure you don’t have a particular disorder that can be treated without medication,” Prof Hillman said.

“Medication should ideally be a short-term intervention. The problem with sedatives is they start to lose their effect and then if you stop taking them the sleep problem gets worse temporarily.

“So that feeds the cycle. You get psychologically and physically dependent on them. I’m very reluctant to prescribe them.”

A standout finding in the British study is that a lack of sleep affects the body the same way drinking alcohol does.

Research found that after 17 hours without sleep, our alertness is similar to the effects of a blood alcohol concentration of 0.05.

After 24 hours without sleeping, the body is in the same state it’d be in at a BAC of 0.1.