I'm Joe Grayden and I'm Terry Grayden welcome to this podcast of the People's Pharmacy.

You can find previous podcasts and more information on a range of health topics at people's

pharmacy.com.

Do you have any behaviors you wish you could get rid of,

biting your nails, snacking at night, watching YouTube?

How can you break old habits?

This is the People's Pharmacy with Terry and Joe Gradyin. Our brains are hardwired to reward us with a squirt of dopamine when we do something that might help us survive, like eat when we're hungry.

But if we start to associate eating with that feeling of reward,

whether we're hungry or not, we can get into trouble.

How could a simple habit like munching on good and plenty turn into an addiction.

What can we do to interrupt that vicious cycle?

Coming up on the people's pharmacy, find out how you can conquer your cravings with mindfulness.

First the news.

In the People's pharmacy health headlines. Prescriptions for benzodiazepine drugs such as Alprousalam, Lorazepam, and diazepam have risen dramatically over the last dozen years.

That's the conclusion of an analysis published in Jemma Network Open.

These medications are usually prescribed for anxiety or insomnia.

However, the data show that primary care physicians are increasingly

prescribing these drugs for back pain or other chronic pain.

These findings are worrisome.

Not only are more people taking benzodiazepines, but patients are taking them for longer

periods of time.

Older people are especially susceptible to side effects.

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