INSOMNIA!!

Nov 15 2011 Published by under sleep, Uncategorized

 

 

Sleep is essential for our psychological and physiological well–being, but many people suffer with sleep deprivation, insufficient sleep, and even chronic insomnia. There are few conditions that are more frustrating. We all crave a good night sleep, and the inability to achieve one can feel like torture, impacting mood, relationships, and the ability to function at work/school.

 

The range of potential sleep problems is enormous. Insomnia can mean difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep, waking too early, and unrefreshing, or poor quality sleep. There are a host of causes and cures for each of these scenarios, making insomnia a fairly complicated disorder to address. Most people can cope with one or two nights of sleeplessness, but continued sleep problems can compromise productivity, create stress at work and home, impact immune function, and contribute to other health problems. Chronic insomnia must be treated by a health professional.

 

However, for most people, insomnia is either intermittent, or a temporary disruption of normal sleep patterns. In such cases, there are a number of safe, natural approaches to addressing sleep problems.

 

Read below for:

  • best practices for good sleep
  • Supplements and nutrition for healthy sleep
  • reasons why you should never taking sleeping tablets
  • homeopathic remedies for insomnia and other sleep problems.

 

 

Best Practices for Good Sleep

These tips are especially useful for “sensitive” sleepers – those for whom a good night sleep is a challenge and good habits around sleep are especially significant.

  1. Establish a routine time for going to sleep and waking up and adhere to this every day, not just on the days that your schedule demands. A consistent sleep-wake cycle is perhaps the most important things you can do for good sleep.
  2. Avoid caffeine, alcohol, sugar, and chocolate 4-6 hours before going to bed
  3. Do not engage in heavy exercise for at least 3 hours before going to bed
  4. Do not eat a heavy meal within 3 hours of going to bed
  5. Sleep in a room that is fully darkened – use an eye mask if there are light leaks into your bedroom
  6. Keep your bedroom at a good temperature – rooms that are too cold or too warm can interfere with sleep. Most people sleep best in a slightly cool room (around 65° F or 18° C) with adequate ventilation.
  7. A warm bath with Epsom salts (a form of magnesium) before bed is soothing and relaxing.
  8. Have a cup of warm chamomile tea before bed (although be warned that too much chamomile can cause sleep disturbances and anxiety)
  9. A foot massage before bed can help with falling asleep

10. If you should wake up and have trouble falling back asleep, get out of bed, go to another room and do something quiet and relaxing until you feel sleepy. Do not turn on electronic gadgets if possible.

11. Remember that relaxation is your goal, not sleep – relaxing rest is restorative.

12. Learn relaxation techniques such as visualization, progressive muscle relaxation, deep breathing, and meditation. Use these techniques before bed, and if you wake up at night.

13. Try to reduce busy-brain activity. Keep a pen and paper by the bed if you are likely to wake with brainstorms, solutions to the crossword puzzle, or lists of groceries to buy. Write them down, get them out of your head, and go back to sleep.

14. Too much light before bed can interfere with your natural melatonin production. Keep lights low in your bedroom starting ½ hour before you want to go to sleep. Do not watch television or work on the computer right until you go to sleep. Back-lit readers can be problematic in this regard, but probably slightly less so than bright reading lights.


Related, but not quite-the-same:

Do not keep your cell-phone by your bed – the radiation it emits is dangerous!  Keep your cell-phone in a different room, or at least 10 feet from your head!!


Supplements and Nutrition for Healthy Sleep

  1. Eat foods high in tryptophan before bed – these include bananas, figs, dates, nuts, turkey, milk, yogurt
  2. Melatonin is an excellent supplement for occasional sleeplessness, especially when caused by jet lag. Take 3-5 mg one hour before bedtime. Use a time-released version for difficulties with staying asleep. Do not use melatonin on an on-going basis as it can stop the body’s production of this very important regulatory (and cancer preventing) hormone.
  3. 5HTP is a substance created from the amino acid tryptophan, and in turn, helps in the production of serotonin. It is a useful supplement for depression and insomnia for some people. 5HTP should not be used by people taking anti-depressant medications. Start with 100 mg before bed and increase gradually to 500 mg if needed. As it is a precursor, 5HTP is less likely to cause issues of dependency than melatonin.
  4. GABA is an amino acid that acts as a neurotransmitter for the central nervous system. It works like a mild anti-stress tranquilizer. Take 500-2000 mg before bed on an empty stomach – start low and work up to optimal dosage. There is a chewable low dose form (100 mg each) that is useful for those with anxieties about falling asleep. Make sure you are also taking supplemental Magnesium with GABA
  5. Magnesium – the wonder mineral! This calming mineral is necessary for all sorts of functions, including restful sleep. It is essential for those who have leg cramps at night, and helps with restless leg syndrome. Magnesium is best taken to bowel tolerance, but an initial starting dose of 200 mg before bed can improve sleep dramatically.


Reasons Why You Should Avoid Sleeping Pills

The desperate need for sleep drives many people who would otherwise never take pharmaceutical medications to the resort to taking sleeping pills. There are many reasons why this is a bad practice.

  1. Taking sleeping pills on a regular basis disrupts deeper levels of sleep, causing a dramatic worsening of insomnia over time
  2. Taking sleeping pills leads to psychological and physiological dependency
  3. People who take sleeping pills suffer with drowsiness during the day – statistically those who take these drugs are 50% more likely to die in accidents due to their drowsiness, especially in the early morning hours
  4. Sleeping pills have a long list of side effects including depression, anxiety, confusion, prostate enlargement, and as mentioned above, worsening of insomnia
  5. Sleeping pills, if used at all, should be used only as temporary solutions in acute, short-lived situations

 

Homeopathic Remedies for Insomnia

There are hundreds of homeopathic remedies that can be used for insomnia. Remember that homeopathic medicine is holistic medicine, so that every person suffering with insomnia will be treated individually, with consideration of all physical, mental, and emotional symptoms. Due to the complexity of this sort of prescribing, chronic insomnia must be treated by a professional. However, occasional, intermittent, situational insomnia can be treated as an acute symptom. Some remedies that may be useful are listed below.

 

COFFEA CRUDA

  • Good for people who are excitable and over-sensitive
  • Made from coffee, the person needing this remedy looks like someone who has had too much coffee to drink – tense, exhilarated, lively, on high-speed
  • Insomnia from over-active minds, over-excitement
  • Sleeplessness from excitement, good news – literally over-joyed
  • For example, highly wired children the night before Christmas!
  • Waking with thoughts, ideas, from the slightest noise
  • Sleepless at night, sleepy during the day

 

 

COCCULUS INDICUS

  • Good remedy for people who are completely worn out, exhausted – insomnia from exhaustion
  • Exhaustion from lack of sleep, disturbance of sleep schedule, excessive stress
  • Excellent for mothers of sick children, or nursing babies who are up all night long taking care of their little ones
  • Also good for workers on night shifts or with irregular schedules
  • When sleep comes it tends to be restless with anxious dreams and nightmares

 

NUX VOMICA

  • Indicated for driven, high-strung people, self-indulgent A-type personalities
  • Losing sleep effects this remedy type severely
  • Loss of sleep may be from excessive eating, drinking, partying
  • Can generally fall asleep (which may look more like passing out), but wake in the early hours, unable to fall back asleep, often with anxious thoughts
  • Often fall into deep sleep close to waking time, then have terrible time waking up
  • Insomnia from overwork, over-active mental activity

 

NATRUM MURIATICUM

  • Indicated for reserved, closed people
  • Excellent remedy for insomnia due to grief
  • Difficulty getting to sleep after a loss, disappointment, or from reflecting on past disagreeable occurrences
  • Waking at night with thoughts of their grief and inability to get back to sleep
  • Dreams tend to be vivid, anxious

 

PULSATILLA

  • People needing this remedy tend to be gentle, yielding and mild mannered
  • Insomnia with over-active minds, repetition of same thoughts – with frequent wakings
  • When sleeping, the sleep is restless with anxious dreams and nightmares
  • Sleep is better in a cool room with open windows
  • Good insomnia remedy for children when indicated

 

 

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BACK-TO-SCHOOL BASICS, Part 3: ANXIETY

Sep 03 2011 Published by under anxiety, applied homeopathy, children, sleep

The return to school after a long summer holiday is a time of anxiety for children (and adults) of all ages. Low-grade nervousness and excitement at this time of year is normal, but for many children the anxiety is extreme, and for some, it doesn’t dissipate as the pattern of the school year falls into place.

Children express their anxiety in various ways. Tummy aches are among the most common expressions of anxiousness, but so are headaches, bed-wetting, inability to sleep, nightmares, hyperactive or aggressive behavior, tantrums, and excessive clinginess – to name just a few. The ability to articulate anxiety is difficult for many children and we need to learn to read their symptoms as expressions of their emotional state. Investigating the situation they find themselves in and the pressures they are experiencing is important. It can be helpful to talk through strategies for managing these situations and pressures, and at times, involve the school in discussion.

Talking doesn’t resolve all problems, and children with chronic anxiety issues, or chronic symptoms of anxiety such as those listed above need to be seen by a professional homeopath. Because homeopathy is holistic medicine – medicine that understands the link between emotional and physical states – it is particularly good for treating anxiety, especially in children.

However, “acute”, or temporary states of anxiety can be treated at home. Here are a few remedies that you might want to consider if your child is expressing nervous excitement or anxiety at the start of the new school year. Again, if these are common or recurring symptoms for your child, they should not be treated with acute remedies; a visit to a professional homeopath is strongly advised.

 

Pulsatilla

  • An excellent remedy to use for children who find times of change difficult – this remedy can ease the way during such times.

  • Children needing this remedy tend to be very sensitive, yielding, and highly emotional, needing lots of affection and support.

  • Children display their anxiety by excessive clinginess and whining. Older children can become very quiet and moody.

  • They may lie in bed with overactive minds, thinking the same thoughts over and over, especially at times of change in their lives. Once asleep, they tend to have anxious dreams with twitching of limbs.

 

Gelsemium

  • This is a superb remedy for acute anticipatory anxiety in which the child seizes up with fear – trembling, stuttering, unable to think correctly.  Very useful before the first day of school (or camp), before exams, public speeches, performances, etc.

  • I generally suggest giving this remedy the night before an event that is causing anxiety, and again the morning of the event.

Argentum Nitricum

  • This remedy can look much like Gelsemium in that it has strong anticipatory anxiety with loose stools.

  • Children needing this remedy are often overly emotional with vivid imaginations.

  • Argentum Nitricum anxiety has to do with a dread of ordeals, and a strong lack of confidence about a new situation.

Calcaria Carbonicum

  • Children needing this remedy tend to be happy and easy-going for the most part, but can get very anxious with worries about small things.

  • They are usually easily distracted from their worries, but when left with time to think, will start worrying anew.

  • Children needing this remedy are often slow, a bit sluggish, and almost always very obstinate – this trait being especially visible when worried.

  • Calcaria children tend to perspire at night, especially around the head.

Arsenicum Album

  • One of the most anxious remedies, usually used for chronic anxiety, but it has a place in short term, situational anxiety.

  • Suited to high-strung children.

  • Children needing this remedy will make lots of plans and organize themselves carefully to reduce their anxiety. They are likely to organize themselves, their clothes, their school supplies, their schedule impeccably – to assure that nothing goes wrong, nothing is out of their control.

  • The anxiety will be accompanied by a great degree of restlessness – pacing, thrashing around in bed, general inability to stay still.

  • They are also likely to be chilly with a cold perspiration on the forehead.

  • Children needing this remedy may experience disturbed sleep when anxious – waking between midnight and 2 or 3 in the morning with anxiety.

 

Coffea Cruda

  • Children needing this remedy will be over-sensitive and over-excited.

  • Their sleep is likely to be effected by this state – children who are wildly happy and over-excited, with minds full of excitement and plans and therefore unable to sleep will benefit from taking this remedy before bed.

Unless otherwise directed, these remedies should be used in the 30ch potency. Suggested dosing is as follows: take a single pellet before bed, another the following morning on waking. Can be repeated for up to 3 days. If symptoms do not improved, do not continue dosing, but get professional advice. Stop the remedy as soon as symptoms disappear. If symptoms are especially severe, put 4 pellets into 8 oz of spring water and sip hourly for up to 6 hours. This is a good back-to-school regimen — a few pellets in a child’s water bottle can make the transition of that first day back to school much easier.

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