Why Take Simvastatin At Night?

Very often, doctors recommend take simvastatin (Zocor® Simvacor&reg, Lipex&reg, Simvacard&reg) at night, either before bedtime or preferably after eating the last meal of the day. To answer the question why it is better to take simvastatin at night, studies have shown that LDL-lowering effect of simvastatin is the strongest when the medication is administered at that time. There are several possible reasons for that.

  • Firstly, the bigger part of the body’s cholesterol is produced by the liver at night, the process being the most intensive in fasting hours early in the morning. Thus, taking simvastatin before going to bed coincides with the time when your body most needs assistance in rebutting cholesterol.
  • Secondly, when administered overnight at full stomach simvastatin works in your body for a longer period. Generally, simvastatin staying in the blood stream for a shorter time than other statins.
  • Thirdly, being asleep when the medication is active lowers discomfort for patients that experience such side effects as dizziness, nausea, poor concentration or weakness. More importantly, such a schedule helps eliminate these undesirable side effects during working hours, which becomes maybe not a life but definitely employment-saving strategy for many people. As high doses are associated with a higher risk of adverse effects , it is more important take simvastatin at bedtime for those who take 40 mg or 80 mg simvastatin than 20 mg or lower does.

Should I Always Take Simvastatin At Bedtime?

To start with, simvastatin should be taken at the same time of the day. If you started taking it before bedtime at 9:00 pm, you should always keep to that schedule. However, taking statins at night is not a must but a recommendation how to achieve a stronger therapeutic effect with least side effects. In addition, although it is recommended to take the medication at bedtime, many patients may find in troublesome - all because of old (but not good) simvastatin side effects that affect sleep, such as night sweats or general sleep problems. In such cases, your doctor may recommend other schedule or switch you to another medication. There is an implication from some medical sources that the exact reason why simvastatin works best overnight is not yet clear. Maybe that’s why some patients are not given the instruction to take the med at bedtime by their doctors and hear about it for the first time from other patients or while browsing for other statin-related issues. In any case, you should discuss with your doctor how to take simvastatin.

Should All Statins Be Taken At Night?

In fact, the recommendation to take statins at night applied not to all cholesterol lowering medications. For example, Crestor () may be taken at any time of the day.