Quantcast

Click here for the Lead Stories

Heath Ledger and the Danger of Sleeping Pills

Posted January 31, 2008 at 03:00 PM by Denise Musumeci

Section: Her Health, Her News

heath ledgerEarlier this week, 28-year-old actor Heath Ledger was found dead in his apartment next to a bottle of sleeping pills. Police told CNN reporters that the death was probably an accident, but it has not yet been confirmed. The dangers associated with taking sleeping pills have suddenly been brought to light.

Ledger was known to suffer from lack of sleep, sometimes averaging only two hours per night. Often, he was spotted walking around the park, playing chess with some of the early birds and talking to the locals. Tony Rivera, a retired city worker remembers Ledger always saying “I’m very tired.” he once reported to The New York Times that taking one sleeping pill would have no affect on him. He would have to take a second pill, just to wake up an hour later with his mind still racing.

Ledger also enjoyed the New York club scene, partying hard through all hours of the night and leaving at sunrise. It seems like he never went to sleep, since he would leave the clubs and go right to the park to play chess with the locals. Ledger’s comments about needing more than one pill to sleep (although not confirmed) can possibly be the cause of his tragic death at such an early age.

Lack of sleep can be caused by numerous factors, including stress and diet. A lifestyle change may be in order if you cannot sleep properly. Sleeping pills should only be taken at their recommended doses and never with alcohol. Mixing alcohol with sleeping pills may cause health problems and could lead to death.

According to the National Sleep Foundation, researchers have found that people with chronic insomnia are more likely than others to develop several kinds of psychiatric problems, and are also likely to make greater use of healthcare services.

People suffering from a sleep disorder called sleep apnea are at risk for high blood pressure, heart attacks, stroke and motor vehicle crashes if left untreated.

Read the rest of this article on our partner site, He’s Fit


7 Responses to “Heath Ledger and the Danger of Sleeping Pills” (Leave a reply)
  1. Well are there some sleeping pills which can affect you. but you can definitely rely on some of thems

    thanks for your post

  2. Sleeping pills are definitely dangerous as Ledger has demonstrated. Adjusting one’s bed to only being a place to sleep, instead of a place to lay and watch television for hours, read, etc. will allow one’s mind to know that once you lay in bed its time to go to sleep. Small adjustments to lifestyle can put one in a better sleeping pattern.

  3. All of the sleeping pills can cause “hangover,” that is, they not only reduce the action potentials of our brain cells during sleep, but they can also reduce brain cell activity during the day.This can make us sleepy, less alert, confused, and weak during the day.

  4. Ada said:

    I still can’t believe he’s dead. If he would have considered doing an addiction treatment before all this could happen. I heard that one of the reasons he had all these sleeping disorders and all these personality problems were caused by his latest part in The Dark Knight – the Joker. The truth is that he really made a fabulous part in that movie. For me, he was the main character, not Christian Bale (Batman).

  5. I agree with Ada. The role of the Joker was the main one in the movie although I have to say Jack Nicholson was awesome in the last version of Batman

  6. Yeah, he had the needed potential to ba part of the group of great actor in hollywood, but sadly like Billy Joel said Only the good die young.

  7. It is sad that people have to use those pills instead of natural products. sad situation.

Leave a Reply

Name: *

Email: *

Location:

URL:

* Required fields

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see below: