Sleep Remedy For Insomnia
One of the problems that has risen up to accompany the increase in shift work, as the economy has gone global, is a corresponding increase in sleeping problems. With people having to be up and communicating all over the world at all sorts of hours, not only are they sleeping at strange times, but they are not always managing to sleep when bedtime comes up on their odd schedules. What results for many of these people is a growing need for a sleep remedy.
What’s behind the necessity to find a treatment for insomnia is the fact that the body has a natural rhythm, called the circadian rhythm, which tells it to shut down and sleep in the dark, and be alert and active during the day. When a person throws his or her work schedule upside down, or constantly switches it back and forth, then it’s no wonder why their body gets confused. A person may be completely exhausted, yet the body can’t let down and sleep. And then they go hunting desperately for a sleep remedy.
For this reason, people might try natural cures for insomnia, such as chamomile or lemon grass tea, just as soon as they get home. They can help themselves by coming home as quickly as they can when their shift ends, to make their exposure to the morning light as short as possible. They might also try natural remedies like meditating for a few minutes just before going to bed, or having a warm bath. Doing regular exercise during the night, along with eating three regular meals during working hours can also contribute because these things help keep the person on a healthy schedule. Bad eating habits exacerbate insomnia, and night shift workers are notorious for not eating properly.
If a person can manage their insomnia cures by natural means, by regulating their meals and exercising, and by retaining healthy habits in other ways, then they can often mitigate the disruptive effects of shift work on their sleep. But most shift workers will need a sleep remedy now and then, because most of them really are working against their bodies’ natural rhythms. However, they can reduce this need if they take whatever steps they can to live in as healthy a manner as possible, whenever their waking hours may be.
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What At The Best Sleep Remedies
There’s often a noticeable link between depression and insomnia, which means that finding sleep remedies will have to take this connection into account. It may seem unnecessary to some people that they should visit a doctor “just” because they can’t sleep, yet if they are also suffering from depression, they might benefit from the medical help. It’s possible that if their depression is diagnosed and they are prescribed an antidepressant, it might end up being a cure for insomnia as well. That would surely be a welcome relief.
With sleep problems and depression so closely connected, it’s important to find the best possible sleep remedies, because this lack of sleep can rebound and worsen the depression problems. The two conditions seem to relate to each other in a feedback loop, each one potentially making the other worse. In fact, a patient who is having problems sleeping can often be expected to suffer a recurrence of the depression within the next year, so finding the right treatment for insomnia may be crucial to the mental health of a person suffering from this illness.
There are certain antidepressant drugs that seem to double up quite well as medications for insomnia. So a doctor might prescribe a drug like doxepin (known as Adapin or Sinequan), trazodone (Desyrel), or mirtazapine (known as Remeron). Even someone who isn’t clinically depressed but uses a tranquilizer like Valium for stress will find that it also helps them fall asleep, but such tranquilizers can worsen conditions like sleep apnea. Many people in the field of natural health methods highly recommend St. John’s Wort as the best of the natural sleep remedies, and it is also frequently touted as a remedy for depression. But much of the evidence for its effectiveness is anecdotal, and medical studies are not yet conclusive.
When a cycle of chronic insomnia and depression is underway, each feeding off the other, sometimes the person can help break the cycle by altering routines and using other physical means to try to break through the sleeplessness. Some of these sleep remedies might involve having regular bedtime routines, using the bed only for sleep and sex, relaxing and meditating before bedtime, and other behavioral therapies. If these are helping to reduce the insomnia, it’s often possible that antidepressant medication can do the rest, and stop depression and insomnia from egging each other on.
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Why Use Drugs As Remedies for Insomnia?
You may have had all the good intentions in the world, with regard to trying to find an insomnia natural remedy rather than resorting to drugs. But if all the herbal teas, white noise generators and meditation sessions haven’t helped, and you’re barely functioning because of lack of sleep, then you may have no other choice but to ask for a prescription from your doctor. There are certain drugs that are definitely meant to be remedies for insomnia, and they should offer some help. However, you should be aware of some of the drawbacks of specific types of medication while you’re using them.
For example, if you’re on depression medications, some of these can double up as insomnia treatments too, since a few of them work very well on helping people sleep as they bring the depression under control. Even cold medications can have a secondary function as remedies for insomnia, because they often induce drowsiness. They do produce side effects if they are used for too long, though, so they shouldn’t become what you rely on regularly.
Other prescription medications have been designed as explicit insomnia cures, and include drugs like Lunesta, Rozerem, Sonata, or Ambien. But remember that these can have side effects or occasionally produce severe allergic reactions. You might even experience odd sleepwalking behavior. If you are an older person, then all of these side effects can be worsened, so any one of these drugs might not be the best insomnia cure for you. This is unfortunate, since aging is a factor in the development of sleeplessness, as the body produces less melatonin. But you might consider melatonin supplements before you try drugs.
Doctors usually don’t recommend using drugs as remedies for insomnia on a long-term basis, both for fear of patients developing dependencies, and also worrying about the potential side effects. But sometimes it’s just not possible to let the sleeping problems continue their cycle for long, unless you are content not to function very well. When it’s absolutely necessary, and you’ve eliminated other physical ailments as causes, sometimes you just have to resort to prescription medications. But both you and your doctor need to keep their potential problems in mind, and keep an eye on your reactions to them.
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Natural Insomnia Remedies First
Natural insomnia therapies should always be the preferred route before you resort to things like sleeping pills or heavier drugs. Those may eventually be in the cards, but you could face serious side effects from many of them, or even become so dependent that you never manage to sleep without them. And in the end, these insomnia remedies could also disrupt your natural rhythms of sleep so that, again, you can’t possibly sleep without taking them. So if you can find a natural treatment first, you’ll probably feel a lot better.
One of the first natural insomnia therapies people tend to recommend is chamomile tea, since it contains tryptophan; the very same chemical that makes people drowsy after big turkey dinners. Other teas that people use as insomnia cures might be things like a tea made from dill and fennel seeds with peppermint leaves, taken with a small amount of honey. In fact, a teaspoon of honey taken at bedtime often replenishes your energy in a natural way overnight, and helps you sleep as well.
Lemon grass tea and lavender are other insomnia herbal remedies you might consider trying. Lemon grass contains an actual sedative that releases serotonin in the brain, helps reduce anxiety and relaxes the body. Essential oil of lavender works on the nervous system in a way similar to tranquilizers. You could use this insomnia herbal remedy in your bath water, or you might add it to a vaporizer. And this herb, too, can be made into a lavender mint tea. If you drink it just before bedtime, like chamomile, it can help relax your mind and body.
You might also consider meditation as one of your natural insomnia therapies. Sitting for fifteen or twenty minutes a day in a quiet, dimly lit room, concentrating on your breathing and clearing distracting thoughts from your mind can help relax you. Doing this just before bedtime might help resolve some of your sleeping problems, especially if you combine the meditation with the relaxing tea or herbs. This combination may help your mind and body slow down and relax enough to sleep. The goal is to try natural remedies first, to avoid drugs and other harsher methods if possible.
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Medical Conditions Like Insomnia
As you hunt for an insomnia remedy that works, don’t forget one important fact. In most cases, this ongoing sleeplessness is actually caused by some other physical condition, of which insomnia is a symptom. While you’re trying your home remedies or campaigning for your doctor to give you some prescription medication, keep in mind that treating the insomnia directly might not address the real problem. You might do better to have a physical, and see if there’s something else going on.
One of the big culprits in sleeplessness is hormones, and that doesn’t just refer to female hormones. It’s true that sleeping problems are often a result of hormonal changes in women, whether during monthly pre-menstrual syndrome, during pregnancy, or as a woman goes into menopause. But aging results in a lessening of the melatonin hormone in both men and women. And as the levels of this sleep-controlling hormone decrease, the wakefulness increases. So finding an insomnia remedy for sleeplessness due to hormone changes can become an issue for both genders.
Chronic insomnia is also often a side effect of medical conditions like high blood pressure, arthritis, hyperthyroidism or even Parkinson’s disease. Sometimes the sleeplessness results directly from the illnesses themselves, as one of the side effects, but the pain and discomfort associated with those ailments will often simply interfere with the ability to sleep. Whatever the case may be, consult with your doctor and get the proper treatment for the medical condition. This will likely result in an insomnia remedy too, as eliminating other physical problems will often eliminate the insomnia automatically.
You also shouldn’t rule out a problem like sleep apnea or other sleep disorders. Whether they are standalone problems, or are themselves symptoms of some other underlying problem, they can result in insomnia. If you can address these disorders and their own root causes, then you may not even need an insomnia remedy because your sleeplessness might finally go away on its own. Be sure to check with your doctor to explore whether there are underlying physical conditions that have led to the insomnia. You may end up in much better all-around health as a result.
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