KOCHI: With increasing competition and work pressure at the workplace, one's job often becomes stressful. This is true of most fields like IT, marketing, mass media and business. This pressure one often takes back home and it invariably affects our eating and sleeping habits. When people don't get enough sleep and end up tossing and turning in bed, many resort to taking sedatives. “We have targets to meet and if it is not completed in time, our performance charts are marked accordingly. So even during sleep the thought is about work. I have a disturbed sleep and sometimes I take a sleeping pill if I don't get sleep even after 2 pm,” says Maneesh M, software engineer, Infopark. Also, the habit of taking anti-depressants and anti-anxiety pills have increased over the years. Most people do not consult doctors and directly approach the medical stores. This is because many are aware about the common sedatives and anti-depressants used, and these are easily available in the market. Naturally more and more people have started to rely on them.“When the occasional use of anti-depressants and anti-anxiety pills turn into a habit, it becomes dangerous. And later on without taking pills, sleep will become difficult,” says C J John, psychiatrist, Medical Trust. While taking sleeping pills, the golden rule is to first consult a doctor as the person may not fully understand the reason for not getting sleep.Often this is not a serious problem, and the person ends up getting enough sleep in a day or two. However, in some cases, this could be due to a serious physical or mental illness, says Sherin M, psychologist, Crescent Hospital.“I have a doctor's prescription for my pills and only take it once in a while,” says Arun Jacob, media planner. However, it often happens that people continue taking the pills long after the time period for which they were prescribed is over. Often, they show the same prescription and buy medicines. “My prescription expired more than eight months ago, but as the medicine is only of mild dosage I know it won't create any problem if I use it rarely,” says Anoop Krishnan, business analyst. “The medical store person also does not check the prescription date, and if one knows the drug store man personally, anti-depressants are given even without the prescription,” says Dr John. Doctors also feel that more and more people are turning into self-help doctors by googling information about medicines on the net. “For them we say, either believe in their own computer doctors or the real doctors,” says John.
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