Sleep Medicine Edition | Medications for Insomnia: What Works?

Host: Darryl S. Chutka, M.D. [@chutkaMD] Guest: Bhanuprakash (Bhanu) Kolla, M.D. A common question we get from patients is “What can you give me to help me sleep?”. Explaining how our sleep changes with age; becoming less efficient, more fragmented with multiple reasons for nighttime awakenings is met with understanding from the patient but is always followed by the question “So, what are you going to give me to help me sleep?”.  How does sleep change with aging? Why do we often have difficulty falling and staying asleep, and does the ideal pharmacologic agent exist that can be taken nightly, helps us fall asleep, remain asleep throughout the night and allow us to wake up feeling refreshed in the morning? In this podcast, we’ll discuss these questions with our guest, Bhanuprakash (Bhanu) Kolla, M.D., a psychiatrist from the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology at the Mayo Clinic. Connect with the Mayo Clinic’s School of Continuous Professional Development online at https://ce.mayo.edu/ or on Twitter @MayoMedEd.