Insomnia

"Sales of Ambien and Lunesta exceeded $3 billion in this country last year, and nearly 60 million prescriptions for insomnia medications were dispensed"

This is a quote from the NY Times, March 29, from an article on a failed insomnia drug in development. That's a lot of money and lot of prescriptions. The real number of prescriptions is probably higher, as some drugs, like older, generic tranquilizers probably aren't counted, or are older tricyclic anti-depressants, like doxepin or trazadone, which are also widely used.

What's up with insomnia? In year's past, alchohol was the primary drug of choice to help people sleep. My guess is that it, too, is still fairly widely used.

I'm a realist, so I don't assume that there is one tidy answer about the "rise" in insomnia, but the question is worth asking. A related question is why are drugs like Ambien and Lunesta so expensive? Are we so unable to sleep that we're willing shell out 3 or 4 dollars a night for a pill that wears off in 5 hours, is mildly addicting and not without real side effects?