ABC News has an interesting story online about a 3 year old boy that cannot sleep.

As a result, the boy, Rhett, has become quite irritable. Rhett appears to have a very rare condition that has caused his brain to become compressed in/around his spinal column. It took doctors some time to arrive at this diagnosis, but they have since operated in hopes of relieving the pressure and allowing Rhett’s brain to expand and function normally.

According to this article in Scientific American, by not getting enough sleep, a child’s risk of being overweight doubles and chances of later depression and anxiety increase. In two separate studies, young children who slept too little, were twice as likely to be overweight by age 3 and reported more anxiety, depressions and aggressive behavior as adults.

According to this article in Bangkok Post, just a few minutes of sleep can improve your memory and mental performance. Dr. Olaf Lahl at the University of Dusseldorf (Germany) conducted an experiment in which volunteers were asked to remember a list of 30 words. Then, the volunteers played solitaire for one hour. During the one hour period, some of the volunteers were allowed to take a 6 minute nap, while others were asked to stay awake. The experiment found that subjects who took a brief nap displayed “superior recall” when compared to subjects that stayed awake.

By Vishal P. Rao

The popular trend is to take sleeping pills whenever people feel that their sleep had been inadequate. That is why sleeping pills have become so common. People don’t pay attention to the dangers of sleeping pills especially the ones associated with chronic insomnia.

The dangers of sleeping pills range from mild and immediate side effects to some potential life threatening and activity limiting effects. Of course, the undesirable effects of drugs for sleeping disorders depend on the type of chemical used in a particular brand.

Side Effects

Every medical drug is having its own share of benefits and risks with it. The physician has to choose a particular drug whose benefits outweigh the side effects for a particular patient.

Anti-histamine Drugs: These antiallergic drugs like Diphenhydramine and Doxylamine are sold as over the counter drugs. Drowsiness is the side effect of these drugs and so people use them as sleeping pills.

The common side effects are dry mouth, dizziness and prolonged sleepiness. Breastfeeding and pregnant ladies, glaucoma and heart patients should avoid even these OTC drugs.

Nonbenzodiazepine Hypnotic Drugs: The drugs like Zolpidem Tartrate (Ambien), Zaleplon, and Eszopiclone are always sold as prescription only. These drugs are quickly metabolized in body so that their side effects could be kept minimal.

In addition to common side effects like dry mouth, dizziness, sleepiness the next morning, diarrhea, rashes, nausea and vomiting these drugs have some potentially serious dangers – decreased sex drive, chest pain, abdominal pain and light-headedness.

Facial swelling and abnormal sleep behaviors such as sleep driving, sleep walking, and eating are also reported by many patients.

Benzodiazepine Hypnotic Drugs: Sleeping pills with older drugs like Triazolam, Estazolam, and Temazepam are anti-anxiety drugs as well.

Nausea, headache, dizziness and prolonged drowsiness are common side effects of these drugs. Light-headedness, abnormal sense of well being, episodes of amnesia, allergic reactions, facial swelling, abnormal sleep behaviors, weakness of muscles, coordination problems, low blood pressure, blurred vision, and liver failure are other serious adverse effects.

Patients suffering with depression and addicted individuals are at particular risk with these drugs.

Sedative Anti-depressant Drugs: Trazodone, Amitriptyline, and Nortriptyline like anti-depressant drugs are used in insomnia related with depression.

Constipation, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, sweating, headache, dizziness, prolonged drowsiness, blurred vision are some common side effects of these drugs. Blurred vision, cardiac complications and seizers are more serious risks associated with these drugs.

Potential Dangers

Abdominal Upsets: Change or alteration in bowel habits like constipation and diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and dry mouth are common problems associated with sleeping pills. These dangers are not very serious but could cause a lot anxiety and discomfort in your day to day routine.

Complaints of abdominal pain could be so serious sometimes that people are led to various diagnostic or therapeutic invasive surgical procedures. Liver failure is very rare type of danger.

Prolonged Drowsiness: The universal trouble with sleeping pills is the continuation of drowsiness or sleepiness or grogginess in the morning after you take them.

The morning grogginess is very unproductive in work area when the impaired mental faculties and poor ability of concentration result in loss of your working capacity partially.

Some professions like driving, machinery work, equipment handling can seriously be at potentially life threatening risk due to this simple trouble.

Abnormal Feelings Upsetting Mind: Dizziness is feeling of movement or rotation in your head even when you could be sitting in chair and it is quite annoying.

Lightheadedness is quite common and can be felt soon after taking pills. Headache could be there and you will feel the need to unnecessarily take other pain killers to get rid of.

Blurred vision could be just a simple feeling or it could be related to serious eye disorders like glaucoma.

Euphoria or abnormal sense of well being is common with sleeping pills. You could feel exuberant for nothing. Mood swings is another serious trouble in anxiety and depression patients. Outrageous feelings of anger and remorse could really aggravate the troubles.

Episodes of amnesia are the bouts of ‘mindlessness’ – the person becomes disoriented and can’t think or feel other things during that short episode.

Abnormal Sleep Behaviors: Bizarre behaviors are seen in the form of abnormal sleep behaviors like driving, walking, eating and doing other activities in sleep. Many of such behaviors are highly embarrassing to the person taking sleeping pills and his family members and even others as well. Some of such activities had been sensational news stories and the victim of sleeping pills had been legally punished.

FDA has warned manufacturers of some drugs to notify general public about these serious side effects on the labels of the drugs.

Muscle Weakness and Loss Of Muscular Coordination: The weakness of muscles and resulting loss of muscular coordination is hazardous to several professions like drivers, mechanics, surgeons and other skilled people who need to have neuromuscular coordination.

Drug Abuse And Addiction: Many sleeping pills prone to be abused as drugs and might lead the person to become addicted.

Low Sexual Drive: Diminished libido is counterproductive for most insomnia patients as most of them do suffer from anxiety or depression as well. And satisfactory sexual activity is always linked to relaxed body, peaceful mind and a good sleep.

Persons with low blood pressure and cardiac complications, glaucoma and liver disorders need extra caution with sleeping drugs.

Vishal P. Rao writes on holistic living at relishinglife.com where you can find more information on natural remedies for insomnia.

According to an article by Joy Bauer Nutrition, the following bedtime snacks can create feelings of calm and sleepiness. See full article.

The article suggests the snacks to be “no more than 200 calories and should be eaten at least 30 minutes prior to bed”

For Adults
- 6-8 oz container of non-fat, flavored yogurt topped with 2 tablespoons low-fat granola cereal
- Sliced apple with 1-2 teaspoons natural peanut butter
- 3 cups low-fat popcorn – sprinkled with optional 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese

For Teens
- One cup healthy cereal with skim milk
- Low-fat granola bar
- Scoop of vanilla or strawberry low-fat ice cream

For Children
–1/2 cup low-fat vanilla pudding
–1/2 banana with 1-2 teaspoons peanut butter
–One cup skim milk with a bunch of grapes (or other fruit)

 We are pleased to pass along the following offer from Scottie Jack, the CEO of Nature’s Healthy Supplements, Inc., the maker’s of Quick2Sleep.:

Hello readers,

In response to the question posed by Snoozester, “Does quick2sleep really work?” I have used the product for the last 3 months and it works. Of course, I would say that as my company recently launched http://www.quick2sleep.com and I am a little biased. That said, I am so confident that my product will help you fall asleep, I wanted to respond to the challenge with an offer. I want to offer 20 readers(unbiased)(and the people at Snoozester) the chance to try the product free of charge and free shipping as well. Then they can write in the blog about how the product worked for them.

I can send a sample free of charge if you want to try a natural alternative THAT WORKS!!!

Please reply with your address and I’ll send you 1sample packages of 24 strips each. You will be amazed how fast they work.

Thank you for your time.

Scottie Jack
CEO
Nature’s Healthy Supplements, Inc.
http://www.quick2sleep.com
http://www.natureshealthysupplements.com

Science Daily has a short but interesting article on the 2008 Presidential candidates and their sleep schedules. Candidates, with their insanely busy travel and appearance schedules, are not getting enough sleep. From the full article, “Sleep deprivation can have a severe impact on a candidate’s mood and performance, increasing the likelihood of a memory lapse, a risky decision, a critical mistake, an improper comment or an angry outburst.”

Source:

American Academy of Sleep Medicine (2008, February 4). Election 2008: Sleep Deprivation A Tough Opponent For Presidential Candidates. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 4, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­/releases/2008/02/080201155650.htm

According to a recent study of 35 men and 36 women between 18 and 45 found that cell phones may interfere with our sleep. According to a BBC article about the study, one group of participants in the study was exposed to radiation similar to that emitted by mobile phones; the control group was not emitted to the same radiation. Participants that were exposed to the radiation were not able to reach the deep stages of sleep as quickly as the control group.

We just got wind of an interesting product aimed at those who have trouble falling asleep, it’s called Quick2Sleep. Each dose looks like a breath mint strip (the kind that dissolve on your tongue), and they claim that you will fall asleep within 15 minutes of taking one. Quick2Sleep sounds too good to be true, but we haven’t tried it yet, so we won’t pass judgment. According to the Quick2Sleep website,

Quick 2 Sleep™ is 100% natural, nonprescription and non-habit forming.  You get your full 8 hours of sleep to awake rested and enjoy your day!  Nature’s Quick 2 Sleep™ is the most effective, convenient, and fastest acting insomnia remedy available.

Nature’s Quick 2 Sleep™ is an edible strip. That means no more swallowing tablets or pills! It contains all natural ingredients, which are absorbed instantly in your mouth.  Nature’s Quick 2 Sleep™ helps you to get to sleep in 15 minutes or less to ensure that you get a full nights’ sleep. 

 If you have tried Quick2Sleep, we would be very interested in hearing about your experience, so please leave a comment below.

Apparently, yes. According to study, discussed in an article in the Times of India, there appears to be a link between a person’s level of education and the quality of their sleep. The study of almost 40,000 Taiwanese adults found that:

…higher educational attainment improved women’s night time sleep quality while it had the opposite effect on educated men.

…rates of insomnia were found to be “still significantly higher” among women