According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 12% of American adults (almost 40 million people) have chronic insomnia. And around 28 million use sleep medications every day or almost every day.

Unfortunately, the result of those two habits is far from restful.

Both insomnia and taking sleep meds significantly increase the risk for disabilities such as trouble eating, dressing, toileting, moving around, and navigating indoors, according to a five-year study of around 6,700 people ages 65 and older, published in the journal Sleep.

The research also shows that the more you experience insomnia and the more often you take sleep meds, the worse your disabilities become.

On top of that, many sleep medications not only don't  help relieve insomnia, they often make symptoms such as daytime fatigue, depression, brain fog, and slowed response time worse.

What can you do to overcome insomnia without relying on most sleep meds?

It takes a combination of stress management (yoga, meditation, therapy); increased physical activity (10,000 steps/step equivalents daily); a regular bedtime in a dark, digital-free, cool, quiet room; improved nutrition (no red or red processed meats, added sugars, or highly processed foods); and smart timing of meals (don't eat within three hours of bedtime).

If that doesn't help, get checked for sleep apnea, an irregular heartbeat, kidney problems (you have to get up to pee too often), or gastrointestinal problems (up to 44% of people with IBS contend with sleep disorders).