Compared with the first annul poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, 2

According to an annual poll conducted by the National Sleep Foundation, in 2005, 75 percent of Americans experienced sleeping problems ranging from minor and transient to severe and chronic. That’s up from 62 percent in 1999, when the NSF first conducted its poll. The number of Americans turning to prescription sleep aids for help has gone up even more dramatically: nearly 60 percent over the past five years. American pharmacists filled about 42 million sleeping pill prescriptions last year, and most of them were for either Ambien or Lunesta, two recent additions to the sleep aid market. These drugs are not believed to be habit-forming, and they don’t seem to have the same liver-damaging side-effects that earlier sleep aids had. For that reason, Russell Rosenberg says they can be a good option for a particular kind of patient. "For something we would consider very short-term, or even transient. That is, let’s say someone had a very serious event in their life, death of a loved one or something. In the short-run, I think most physicians are going to realize this person just needs a few tablets here and there to get them through the stress of the situation."