SLEEP
is as important as you make it
I
It is 2 am and you have just completed
your to-do list for the third time.
Included on the list is the desire to sleep
more and to sleep better. If you are like
many Americans you are not alone. In
fact, the CDC reports that 50–70 million
Americans report some form of sleep
disorder and over nine million use sleep
aids on a regular basis. The pharmaceutical industry has seen a three-fold
increase in prescriptions for sleep aids
over the past 10 years. These medications were never designed to be used
long-term and many have short and
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PEACHYTHEMAGAZINE.COM
WRITTEN BY
Nancy Palermo Lietz, MD
long-term health risks and potential
dependence. Even over-the-counter
sleep remedies are associated with side
effects and eventual tolerance.
Researchers all agree, however, that
sleep has significant health benefits,
and we all need to make sleep one of
our health priorities. We spend a third
of our lives sleeping for a reason. In
recent studies published in the Journal
of Science, researchers have shown that
during the sleep cycle our bodies
are in a detox mode, cleaning out