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Benzodiazepines: indications and side effects

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Benzodiazepines: indications and side effects       Benzodiazepines , such as Valium ® for example, have long been the most widely used sleeping pills , these psychotropic drugs are actually anxiolytics that also have an effect on sleep disorders .      Benzodiazepines owe their name to their common chemical structure: the benzodiazepine ring.      This barbaric term is the chemical name for a cyclic structure that combines a benzene molecule (benzo-) and a molecule containing two nitrogen atoms (-diaz-).      The names of the molecules in the benzodiazepine class (International Nonproprietary Names or INNs) all have the same suffix "-azepam". Indications for benzodiazepines      By binding to a specific receptor, benzodiazepines facilitate the action of a neurotransmitter, GABA (gamma-amino-butyric acid), on its receptor in the brain.      GABA decreases the excitability of the central nervous system. This reduction will have several consequences illustrated by the many use