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Insomnia, difficulty falling or staying asleep, is one of the most common complaints among American adults, adolescents, and children. Although we know more all the time about the functions of sleep, we really don't know why we have to. On the other hand, we know without a doubt that poor sleep causes myriad health, performance, and relationship problems. It is likely for these reasons that Americans are taking prescription sleeping aids in record numbers. But is this a good idea? Converging lines of evidence from multiple scientific studies indicate that use of prescription sleep aids (also known as hypnotics and Z-drugs) increase your risk of cancer, Alzheimer's, and death. Because relative to the risks of prescription drugs supplements are so safe, I usually try complementary and alternative approaches - general health-related-lifestyle modification, sleep hygiene, and natural supplements - before prescribing sleeping medications.
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Read This Before You Take A Prescription Sleep Aid
Prescription Sleep Aid
Use Among Adults:
United States, 2005-2010
A Report for the Centers for
Disease Control and
Prevention
Approximately 4% of U.S. adults – or nearly 9 million - over
the age of 20 used prescription sleep medications during the
past month;
Persons with increased age and higher education levels are
more likely to use prescription sleep aids;
More women than men use sleeping pills;
One in six adults with a diagnosed sleep disorder and one in
eight adults with trouble sleeping reported using sleep
medications.
Back to the (Sleep) Basics
And that’s because insomnia, the
inability to fall or stay asleep, is
one of the most common medical
complaints seen by health care
practitioners. At least 30% of
individuals, adults as well as
children, experience this common
sleep disorder one or more times
during their lives.
Early Death
Accidents Obesity
Strained Relations
Higher Costs
Brain Fog
Slower Reactions
Fatigue Pain
Some Consequences of Poor Sleep
Sleep and Diabetes
• 161 African Americans studied
• Sleep curtailment (and not BMI, waist:hipratio, frequency of exercise, frequency of glucose monitoring, duration of diabetes) impairs glucose control:
“The prevalence of sleep curtailment may be a contributing factor to the ‘current epidemic of type 2 diabetes.”
Kristen L. Knutson, PhD, University of Chicago
Arch. Int. Med. 2006; 166:1768-74
• Japanese study of 14,000 male workers followed for eight years
• Day shift, night shift (7%), rotating shifts (12.8)
• Rotating shift workers were 3X more likely to get prostate cancer
• Pure night shift workers slightly more than day workers to get prostate CA.
• Purported mechanism: chronic circadian de-synchronization.
• “Shift workers” shown in other studies to be at greater risk for breast and colorectal cancers.
Kubo, et al. Am J Epidemiology, 2006, Vol. 164, Number 6, pp 549-555.
Putting the Grave in the Graveyard
Shift
Insomnia and Mortality in Older
Adults
Dew MA et al. Psychosom Med. 2003;65:63-73.
Sleep latencies >30 minutes: 2.14x
greater mortality risk (p=0.005)
Survival as a function of sleep latency
Sleep efficiency <80%: 1.93x
greater mortality risk (p=0.014)
Survival as a function of sleep efficiency
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Insomnia in Adolescents
• 4,253 adolescents aged 12-18 studied
• 9% reported insomnia
• Insomnia increases the risk of multiple health
problems several fold.
0
1
2
3Binge Drink
Smoking Cigarettes
Marijuana
OtherDrugs
Depression
Suidicality
Brandy M. Roane, University of North Texas at Dallas
Nurses Health Study
• 68,000 women followed for 16 years
• Adjusted for age and BMI, exercise
and diet
• Sleep duration of less than 6
hours/night is an independent
predictor of future weight gain and
obesity.
Dr. Sanjay R. Patel, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland
Presented at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, 2006
Good News: You Snooze, You Lose
• A 2007 study out of the
University of Michigan shows
that if you increase your daily
amount of sleep by one hour,
you are likely to eat 6% less
which could translate into
losing up to 14 pounds in a
year.
So Why Not Take a Prescription
Sleep Aid?
1) They don’t work for long;
2) Many are addicting;
3) They often have many side
effects; and
4) There was another reason,
wait, it will come to me…oh
yeah,
• “Patients receiving prescriptions for zolpidem
[Ambien], temazepam [Restoril], and other hypnotics
suffered over four times the mortality as the
matched hypnotic-free control patients.”
• Even patients prescribed fewer than 18 doses of
sleep meds per year were more likely to die of any
cause, with “greater mortality associated with
greater dosage prescribed.”
• In those prescribed hypnotics, the incidence for
several specific types of cancer was increased “with
an overall cancer increase of 35% among those
prescribed high doses.”
An Alternative To Prescription
Sleeping Aids
Sleep Hygiene
Establish a regular sleep-wake schedule;
Develop a relaxing evening routine one hour
before going to bed;
Reserve the bedroom for sleep and sex only,
preferably not at the same time;
Maintain a very dark room for sleeping – no
electronic gadgets or LED lights;
Keep the room temperature 70 degrees or less;
Limit afternoon naps to 20-30 minutes;
Avoid vigorous exercise and excessive alcohol
in the evening;
Eliminate caffeine in the afternoon and evening;
and
Find ways to manage emotional turmoil.
Sleep Supplements
One the most beneficial uses of complementary
and alternative medicine (CAM) is in the arena
of natural treatments for sleep problems. I look
for supplements that combine ingredients
designed to accomplish three things:
1) Treat the symptom of insomnia, in other
words, get and keep you sleeping TONIGHT;
2) Correct the hormonal and neurotransmitter
imbalances causing your sleep problems in
the first place; and
3) Re-synchronize your 24-hour clock so that
you are sleeping when you want/need to be
and fully awake when you want/need to be.
But Are They Safe? Let’s Look At
The Numbers
Let’s look at the numbers
EU citizens taking pharmaceutical drugs run a risk of death from
side effects that is 123,125 greater than the mortality risk
experienced through taking a food supplement.
Preventable Medical Injury (Hospital),
350,000
Smoking, 175,000
Pharmaceutical Adverse Drug Reaction, 123,000
Obesity, 120,000
Diabetes, 12,000
Traffic Accidents, 7000
Food Poisoning, 200
Struck by Lightning, 26
Supplements, 1
0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 350,000 400,000
Preventable Medical Injury (Hospital)
Smoking
Pharmaceutical Adverse Drug Reaction
Obesity
Diabetes
Traffic Accidents
Food Poisoning
Struck by Lightning
Supplements
Relative Risk to the Individual
Relative Risk to the Individual
http://www.anhinternational.org/news/anh-exclusive-risk-data-reveals-%E2%80%98big-lie%E2%80%99-european-natural-health-regulation. Accessed Sunday 25th November 2012
http://www.anhinternational.org/news/anh-exclusive-risk-data-reveals-%E2%80%98big-lie%E2%80%99-european-natural-health-regulation. Accessed Sunday 25th November 2012
Societal versus Individual Risk of Death in Europe (The Bigger the Bubble, the Deadlier the Activity)
Another Advantage of Our Approach
We test for neurotransmitter
and hormonal imbalances
causing your insomnia.
That way we can customize
your treatment.
One of Our Best Selling Natural
Sleep Supplements
Click here to
learn more.