常吃安眠药的人会发现，安眠药貌似越吃越不灵。如今研究证实，安眠药确实不适合长期服用，只有短期内服用才有效，长远来看治疗失眠还是应该求助于认知行为疗法。

Sleeping pills prescribed to millions of people every year do not work in the long term, a study has found.

研究发现，每年医院给数百万人开出的安眠药长期来看并没有效果。

Scientists found no difference in sleep quality or duration between those who took the medication for one to two years.

科学家发现，服用安眠药一至两年后，睡眠质量和时间并不会改善。

The research team said that rather than taking such medication long term, patients should receive cognitive¹ behavioural therapy to help them sleep.

研究团队称，患者不应该长期服用安眠药，而应该接受认知行为疗法来助眠。

Meanwhile, the UK’s Sleep Charity said on Tuesday that the study showed that drugs failed to tackle the root problem.

与此同时，英国的睡眠慈善机构5月11日称，研究显示安眠药无法根治失眠。

In the Western world, insomnia² is thought to affect between 10 and 30 percent of adults at any one time, according to the Economic and Social Research Council.

经济与社会研究委员会指出，据认为，西方世界有10%到30%的成年人随时遭受失眠困扰。

The group has also calculated that one in 10 British adults regularly take some kind of sleeping tablet, with an accompanying risk of addiction³.

据研究团队估算，英国有十分之一的成人定期服用某种安眠药，随之而来的是上瘾的风险。

For the new study, published in BMJ Open, a team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston compared 238 women who had started using medication to tackle insomnia with 447 matched women who were not on sleeping drugs. The average age was 49.5.

在这一发表在《英国医学期刊》的新研究中，波斯顿的布列根和妇女医院将238名已开始服用安眠药来对抗失眠的女性与447名没有服用安眠药的失眠女性相对比。她们的平均年龄是49.5岁。

Sleep disturbances⁴ were defined as difficulty falling asleep, frequent awakening⁵ and waking up early.

睡眠障碍被定义为难以入眠、频繁醒来和过早醒来。

On average, both groups of women reported difficulties on one in three nights, waking frequently two in three nights, and waking up early one in three nights.

平均来看，两组女性都报告称自己每三夜就有一夜难以入眠，每三夜就有两夜频繁醒来，每三夜就有一夜过早醒来。

Overall, more than 70 percent of women reported disturbed sleep at least three times a week, regardless of whether they were on sleep medication or not.

总体而言，逾70%的女性报告称，每周至少出现三次睡眠障碍，无论有没有服用安眠药。

Around half of the women were current or former smokers⁶ and one in five were moderate to heavy drinkers, both of which may affect sleep quality.

约半数女性现在或过去是烟民，五分之一的人是中度到重度饮酒者，而吸烟和喝酒都可能影响睡眠质量。

A spokesperson for The Sleep Charity said: “While prescription⁷ drugs can help with short-term insomnia, and help to break a cycle of poor sleep, it doesn’t tackle the root problem. They really just mask the symptoms.

睡眠慈善机构的发言人称：“尽管处方药物有助于治疗短期失眠，打破睡眠不良的恶性循环，但不能根治失眠。他们其实只是在掩盖症状。”

"With long-term insomnia, lifestyle or behaviour changes usually need to happen which is why cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is an effective treatment.

“对付长期失眠，通常需要做出生活方式或行为的改变，这就是为什么失眠认知行为疗法比较有效。”

"Unfortunately, there is very little support for people struggling with sleep difficulties which is why many turn to prescription medications.”

“不幸的是，遭受失眠困扰的人得到的支持非常少，这就是为什么许多失眠者转而求助于处方药。”