Benefits of sleeping pills 'come from placebo effect' There was not enough evidence from the trials to show other benefits that might be important to people with sleep problems, such as sleep quality or daytime functioning. Prof Siriwardena, who led the study, added: "We know from other studies that around a fifth of people experience side-effects from sleeping tablets and one in 100 older people will have a fall, fracture or road traffic accident after using them. Psychological treatments for insomnia can work as effectively as sleeping tablets in the short-term and better in the long-term, so we should pay more attention to increasing access to these treatments for patients who might benefit. Doctors write millions of prescriptions for Z-drugs every year as a short-term treatment for insomnia. Medical experts have reported that their use has increased in recent years as many users believe they are a safer alternative to tranquillisers. But some doctors questioned whether the benefits of Z-drugs justify their side-effects, such as memory loss, fatigue or impaired balance. In their study, researchers used data submitted by pharmaceutical companies to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for approval of new products. The information was contained in 13 clinical trials, with more than 4,300 participants, that also had 65 "comparisons." The FDA collates results from both published and unpublished studies, enabling researchers to avoid common types of bias that undermine sponsored trials. Their findings indicated that "once the placebo effect is discounted, the drug effect is of questionable clinical importance." Prof Siriwardena said future studies of sleeping tablets should investigate a broader range of outcomes, not just time taken to fall asleep. Pharmaceutical companies, he added, should be "more transparent in disclosing results from their studies so that researchers can independently analyse their results."