sleep

[Gustav Gyger]

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Who needs to use a sleep aid and exactly what insomnia is, is quite relative to the person. Both age and the individual will determine the amount of sleep that is needed. If a twenty five year old is getting four and a half hours of sleep per night a sleep aid would most likely be recommended whereas if a seventy five year old is getting the same amount of sleep it would be much closer to the normal range. This is why insomnia is defined as a disturbance in regular sleeping patterns and a sleep aid will only be given if it is outside what is normal for that person. Besides taking a sleep aid you can try to exercise during the day (but not right before bed), you can flip the mattress or try to focus on pleasant relaxing thoughts. This does not always work and sometimes anxiety related insomnia has to be treated with a sleep aid. Even in this case a sleep aid with herbs such as St. John's Wort and Valerian Root are much safer than any prescription sleep aid.

You are probably well aware of the drug Diazepam, though you most likely know it by its commercial name Valium. It is one of the most popular drugs in the world and is used to treat a variety of conditions. Diazepam was not the first benzodiazepine to be developed, but is by far the most popular and widely used, though in many cases Xanax is taking its place. Developed in the 1960s, Diazepam can be used to treat insomnia, anxiety, seizures and occasionally it is used for other purposes. Diazepam is not without its drawbacks however. It can be damaging to the liver and kidneys, it is habit forming and dependency forming, it interacts negatively with other drugs and with alcohol. Like most drugs it has side effects as well; Diazepam's side effects include blurred vision, loss of sex drive, hallucination, personality changes and difficulty urinating. Pregnant and nursing mothers should not use Diazepam. For all of these reasons herbal alternatives should be given careful consideration. Natural remedies can be used in place of Diazepam for both anxiety and sleep problems. Herbal supplements are generally safer and side effect free, as well as effective.

If you are suffering from insomnia, knowing all the sleep remedies available to you is precious information. At the doctor's office you will can learn a bit about various pharmaceutical sleep aids, but very little about natural sleep remedies. Unfortunately this field is largely neglected by the medical profession, but there are a lot of natural sleep remedies which should be considered before resorting to expensive and potentially dangerous prescription drugs. While these drugs do induce sleep they have many side effects and generally do not result in good sleep quality, instead leaving the user groggy and drowsy the next morning. Herbal sleep remedies do not result in this "hung over" feeling, and are still very effective in treating insomnia. By naturally calming the mind and relaxing your muscles, sleep remedies from nature can help you get the best sleep you've had in years. The other advantage to herbal sleep remedies is that they do not require a prescription; and doctors do not like to prescribe pharmaceutical sleep aids for long periods of time. You are overall better off using natural sleep remedies over pharmaceuticals in most cases.

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