SLEEP NATURALLY
Introduction
Why some people sleep like a baby and others toss and turn for hours often remains a mystery. Americans have constant reminders that without restful sleep, health cannot prevail. The medical and economic consequences of the Nation’s sleeplessness are staggering and statistics imply that 100 million Americans do not sleep well. Up to 40 million Americans may have chronic insomnia with problems related to going to sleep, staying asleep and early morning wakening. About 30 percent of all people with chronic insomnia have no identifiable cause for their problem.
The media is alive with information about the importance of sleep deprivation and quick fixes with drugs. The use of pharmaceuticals for sleep is embroiled in controversy. Recent media reports question the promise that newer forms of sleeping pills are safe. All hypnotic drugs may cause drowsiness, dizziness, memory loss or headache and tolerance is a common problem. Tolerance to
sleep drugs
requires
continued or
increased
dosage of
sleeping pills.
While sleep
drugs
commonly
cause
dependence,
or frank
addiction, there are increasing reports of the precipitation of a “zombie-like” state associated with aberrant behavior and eating disorders.
In the calendar year 2005, there were 26.6 million prescriptions for the drug Ambien® (Sanofi-Aventis) with continuing claims by the manufacturers of a well established safety profile for this drug. Lunesta® (Sepracor) is advertised for free trials and it carries a “cloaked” recommendation for continued use, a matter of great concern to many people. All sleep drugs are best used for a couple of weeks or so, but as many as one third of all consumers of hypnotic drugs use them on a chronic or intermittent long term basis.
Amidst a current series of class action law suits against the manufacturers of Ambien® and other hypnotic drugs, patient safety issues have come to the forefront of scientific and public debate. In the late Victorian era, H.C. Woods stated “the treatment of insomnia by drugs is always to be avoided as much as possible” (cited by D.F. Kripke MD “The Dark Side of Sleeping Pills.com”). The medical wheel has turned!
Sleep 101
Sleep has several basic stages with two characteristic states. These states involve rapid eye movement sleep (REM) and non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREM). In brief, there are 5 stages of sleep:
Stage 1: Light, drifting sleep, slow EM, muscle relaxation (cascade of events)
Stage 2: EM stop, slow brain wave, burst of sleep spindles (EEG)
Stage 3: delta waves, small fast waves (EEG)
Stage 4: deep sleep, dominant delate waves, no EM, no muscle contraction
Stage 5: REM sleep, rapid breathing, eye jerks, limb paralysis and dreams
Restful sleep involves the passage through all 5 stages in sleep and these cycles have approx. 2 hours of duration. The cycles restart with stage1 sleep and as they become repeated the cycles are shorter with a predominance of REM sleep. A healthy person spends about 50% of their sleep time in stage 2 and about 20% in REM, where dreaming occurs. Infants experience about 50% of their sleep in REM time and this form of sleep declines with age.
Causes and consequences of sleep problems
Common causes of insomnia include stress, irregular schedules, psychological distress, physical illness, drugs, substance abuse and chronic pain. There are several obvious symptoms or signs of sleep deprivation including: drowsiness, poor memory, lack of motivation, general fatigue, poor concentration, behavior problems, mood problems and accidents. Modern research has pointed to several less obtrusive components of sleep deprivation. These occult components of sleep deprivation include: weight gain or obesity associated with eating disorders, the development of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome X, significant hormonal changes and even premature death. Sleep deprivation promotes premature aging by many mechanisms.
Natural ways to healthy sleep