Sleeping pills and tranquilizers can negatively affect driving ability. This is apparent from PhD research by Tim Leufkens who is affiliated with Maastricht University.
It was expected that side effects would manifest differently in sleep patients and the elderly than in young, healthy people. Leufkens shows in his thesis that this is not the case.
The negative effects of sleeping pills on driving skills, there are hardly any differences between the groups mentioned.
The following conclusions can be drawn from the study:
– The elderly (up to 75 years) and young people are equally sensitive to the residual effects of sleep medication on driving ability.
– Patients with untreated insomnia drive on average just as well as healthy, good sleepers.
– Long-term use of sleep medication does reduce the effects of sleep medication on driving ability , but does not necessarily lead to an absence of those effects.
– The largest group of users of sleeping pills is women (about 2/3). Women, however, are not more sensitive to the residual effects of sleeping pills on driving skills than men, as was previously believed.
– The 'newer' sleep aid zopiclone (Imovane) is preferred by a large proportion of GPs over the conventional 'old-fashioned' benzodiazepines. However, zopiclone still has a significant worsening effect on driving ability after 10 hours of intake.
