With more and more people suffering from sleep deprivation, there has been a corresponding increase in the number of people who take over-the-counter or prescription sleeping aids to get a good night’s rest.

The CDC estimates the number of sleeping pill users at 9 million, and rising.

But sleeping pills can be addictive and even dangerous. In fact, a study from the University of California at San Diego found that sleep aid users have a 500 percent higher risk of dying from all causes.

What’s more, they have a 35 percent higher risk of contracting cancer than people who don’t take sleeping pills.

This study came at the same time the FDA was sounding an alarm over sleeping pills.

The agency announced last year it was recommending that the bedtime dose of Zolpidem (brand name Ambien) be lowered due to the risk of next-morning impairment.

The dangers they cited included driving impairment. Ambien has also been linked to such phenomena as “sleep eating,” “sleep cooking,” and other behaviors of which people had no knowledge upon awakening.

Sleeping pills also have addictive qualities, so if you think you may have grown dependent on these medications, talk to your doctor.