DORAs, Sleeping Pills, & Weight Loss

ageless64 · 2024-11-26T04:35:26.188Z

#86 - Sleeping Pills & Weight Loss - The Matt Walker Podcast

The Matt Walker Podcast is all about sleep, the brain, and the body. Matt is a Professor of Neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of the book, Why We Sleep and has given a few TED talks. Matt is an awkward British...

Thoughts?

ageless64 · 2024-11-26T04:41:48.073Z

Matt seems to have a positive view of Dual Orexin Receptor Antagonists (DORAs) which includes suvorexant (Belsomra), the drug studied in this RCT, and doxepin, because he believes they do not disrupt and may in fact improve sleep architecture. He likes trazodone for the same reason, although it seems to act through a different unknown mechanism. I have found trazodone helpful but have not tried any of the DORAs.

ageless64 · 2024-12-05T07:53:31.815Z

Here is the original research:
https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(24)01437-8

Elizabeth_Kirby · 2024-12-05T14:37:40.033Z

suvorexant (it turned out) isn’t covered by my insurance & is $300 for 30 pills, so I haven’t tried it either.

I think there was a study that suggested it’s protective against dementia, which isn’t surprising because sleep itself if protective.

blsm · 2024-12-10T14:39:41.956Z

I found this shared by another member-

Suvorexant and Alzheimer’s

If you have them send it to the mail order pharmacy KnippeRx, you should be able to get it for $25 if you have private health insurance. This has been the case for me for both Belsomra and Quviviq.