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Why some common sleep recommendations don’t work (sleeping pills and prescriptions) – Dr. Jason Jones Elizabeth City NC, Chiropractor
Over the years many patients come to our Chiropractic office at Elizabeth City NC and complain of insomnia even after taking sleeping pills and prescriptions. You might have experienced this and maybe forced yourself to sleep several times with pills but don’t seem to get a good result.
Well, you’re not alone. According to a survey, about one-third of US adults with sleep problems complain that they had used pills and prescriptions but still don’t get a restful night. Besides, nearly 6 out of 10 people taking sleeping pills report side effects such as feeling confused, drowsy, or forgetful the next day.
So, you might ask, “Why do some sleeping pills and prescriptions not work?” Well, firstly, you must understand that not all drugs sold over the counter or prescribed are safe and effective. Secondly, most sleeping pills and prescriptions are classified as “sedative hypnotics.”- meaning they only sedate you, but not helping you sleep adequately.
All OTCs, for example, rely on older antihistamines- doxylamine or diphenhydramine, which causes drowsiness as a side effect. The oldest types are anti-anxiety drugs such as triazolam and temazepam, which makes you feel sedated by slowing the activity of your brain and CNS.
The newest type of sleeping pills or prescriptions, including suvorexant and ramelteon, affects brain chemicals that are involved in the sleep-wake cycle.
Why They Don’t Work
Most of these drugs will only make you fall asleep faster or increase total sleep time by 20 to 30 minutes. But they actually don’t help you get adequate sleep.
Studies have shown that drugs like ramelteon only makes people fall asleep 9 minutes faster than those taking a placebo. Also, participants who took suvorexant got only closed their eyes for 10 minutes more than those who took a placebo.
Moreover, sleeping pills don’t seem to reduce your anxiety or clear your depression. They also don’t seem to even encourage the kind of inner and outer change needed for quality sleep. In a way, they only distract you from what you really need.
The “Morning After” Effect
Besides the short-term effect of sleeping pills and prescriptions, they also have side effects, causing people to feel dizzy, drowsy, confused, and unsteady the morning after.
Some people with sleep problems have recorded hallucinations, sleepwalking, sleep driving, sleep eating, memory lapse, and odd behavior in the morning after taking sleeping pills and prescriptions.
The bad part is that when long-term usage of these drugs can be habit-forming, and you are likely to suffer a rebound effect when you decide to stop them, and this worsens insomnia.
More so, the risk of sleeping drugs gets heightened when you misuse them. For example, taking these drugs with other sedatives, alcohol, or prescription pain drugs can lead to slow breathing as well as a physical and mental impairment that may persist up to the next day.
Besides, you take sleeping pills or prescriptions with 4 hours or less to sleep before starting an activity that requires your concentration, you can still have it circulating in your bloodstream, and this can make you less alert when you need to be active.
So if what you’re looking for quality sleep and a regular circadian rhythm, you can follow some natural measures and possibly other techniques including some cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. These measures are safer and long-lasting.
How Circadian Rhythms are involved in Sleep
Have you ever noticed that you naturally experience different levels of alertness and sleepiness throughout the day? This is mainly caused by two factors- your sleep/wake homeostasis and your circadian rhythm/ body clock.
When you stay awake for a long time, your sleep/wake homeostasis tells you that a need for sleep is accumulating and it is time to sleep. In addition, it helps you get enough sleep throughout the night to make up for the debt. This way, you get a balance between sleep and wakefulness.
Your circadian rhythm on the other hand regulates the timing of your period of sleepiness and wakefulness throughout the day. It dips and rises at different periods of the day.
As an adult, you tend to fall deeply asleep between 8:00pm – 12:00 am, and in the afternoon you have the strongest sleep drive between 1:00 – 3:00 pm. However, this largely depends on whether you are an “evening person” or a “morning person.”
Besides, the sleepiness you’ll be experiencing during this circadian dip will be more intense if you are sleep-deprived, and less intense if you had sufficient sleep.
Your circadian rhythm also makes you more alert at some points during the day, and this is irrespective of whether you stayed up for many hours. But your sleep/wake restorative process would make you feel sleepy instead.
How the Circadian Rhythms are involved in Sleep
The circadian rhythm is directed by a group of cells called Suprachiasmatic Nucleus (SCN) located in the hypothalamus of the brain. These cells are sensitive to signals of light and darkness. And this sends a message from the optic nerve to the SCN, and then to the internal clock that it’s time to wake up.
The SCN sends signals to different parts of your brain that controls body temperature, hormones, and other functions that control alertness or sleepiness.
So as you expose yourself to light in the morning, the SCN sends signals to produce hormones like cortisol and raise body temperature. It also slows down the release of melatonin, which is a hormone involved in sleep onset.
However, as the light dies down in the evening, the eyes signal to the SCN that is dark, and melatonin levels begin to rise, thereby promoting sleep.
But if you disrupt your circadian rhythm, maybe a “jet lag,” it causes conflict with your natural sleep pattern. And this shift in time and light cues your body to adjust. This phenomenon is the main reason why a lot of travelers feel, think, and perform poorly.
Not only in travelers, but these symptoms can also occur in everyday life if keep long and irregular hours. That is more reason why you need to always ensure you keep a regular sleep schedule.
Ideal Bedtime
Your body expresses your circadian rhythm every day, and this goes on whether you sleep or not. So, it is wise to try to adjust your bedtime consistently with your body’s internal clock.
You’ll know when you are aligned with your internal clock when the following happens:
You can keep your alarm off for a few days to identify your circadian rhythm more quickly. Observe your body’s natural wake time for a week or so and check how you feel.
When you allow plenty of time for quality sleep, it allows both your sleep/wake restorative process and your circadian rhythm to help you perform at your best.
You can consult Dr. Jason Jones at our Chiropractic office at Elizabeth City NC to get the best recommendation on your sleep pattern to help you maintain a regular circadian rhythm.
7 simple natural steps to get better sleep
You may often wonder why your doctor always advise you to get enough sleep regularly. Well, just like nutrition and exercise, sleep is critical to our health, and when we don’t get quality sleep, it catches up with us in other areas, especially our productivity, focus, and concentration.
Although our modern-day living does not allow us to see the necessity for adequate sleep, we always encourage our patients at our Chiropractic office at Elizabeth City NC to get a good night’s sleep and keep a regular sleep pattern.
In this article, we’ll be showing you some importance of a good night’s sleep and steps you can take to get better sleep.
Importance of a Quality Sleep
You may think of sleep as a time when your brain and body temporarily shut off. But the truth is that while you are resting, your brain is busy overseeing a wide range of biological upkeep and preparing you for the next day.
Here are some benefits of adequate sleep:
You become vulnerable to a lot of short- and long-term health risks like obesity, depression, automobile accidents, etc. when you don’t get enough sleep over time. Hence, ensure you get enough sleep every day.
Simple Natural steps to get better sleep
You might have tried many sleeping pills and prescription just to get better sleep, but it only left you feeling worse the following day. You may not need to take such sleep remedies. Here are some simple natural steps to help you get better sleep:
Other measures to get better sleep includes:
If you truly want to maintain a healthy lifestyle, you need to get enough sleep to keep your body and mind working properly. You can consult Dr. Jason Jones at our Chiropractic office at Elizabeth City, NC to get recommendations on the best natural measures you can take to get better sleep and improve your overall health naturally.
4 Supplements that Support Sleep
You need quality sleep to maintain good health. Apart from the feeling of being well-rested, sleep consolidates your memory, facilitates the detoxification of your brain, and improves your athletic performance. More so, adequate sleep puts you in a better mood and even helps you lose weight.
Unfortunately, many of us struggle to get a good amount of sleep due to a lot of physical and psychological factors, including:
That’s why at our Chiropractic office in Elizabeth City NC, we encourage adequate sleep. One of the reasons we do is because sleep deprivation can increase the risk of conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, stroke, heart disease, and depression. The good news is that if you’re sleeping poorly or you find it hard to fall asleep, you can enlist the help of a variety of natural sleep supplements including:
Melatonin- Melatonin is a hormone that is involved in key functions like sleep regulation. It is naturally produced in the body and it regulates your body rhythm based on the light around you. So, when it is getting dark, the hormone naturally lets your body express night-time behavior.
However, if you are not getting enough sleep at night or sunlight during the day, you may need an extra boost of melatonin. And the melatonin supplements are effective for helping catch some zzz’s. Studies even show that it not only helps you fall asleep but also enhances the quality of your sleep.
Chamomile tea- Chamomile is an herb and not actually a vitamin or mineral. A lot of people diffuse it as an essential oil and into the diet via chamomile tea. This acts as a relaxant that calms your nerves, relieves anxiety, and improves your overall wellbeing.
Valerian root- You might not have heard about the valerian root and its use to fight sleep disorders since ancient times. This root has been effective in treating anxiety for hundreds of years.
It is one of the natural solutions you can use when you struggling to fall asleep. Besides, it is added to some medicines for sleep disorders, and you can take a valerian root tablet to calm your body and put your mind at rest.
Kava plant- This plant is part of the pepper family, and it has been shown for long to be effective in relieving anxiety. Studies have shown that short-term use of Kava is okay to treat moderate anxiety. More so, much research has proven that both kava and valerian root works to improve sleep in people with stress-related insomnia. However, you need to avoid using kava if you take alcohol or drugs that are metabolized in the liver.
Other supplements that support sleep include vitamins and minerals such as:
These minerals and nutrients are also great to support sound sleep. However, you need to ensure you keep a healthy diet and lifestyle to get a good night’s sleep. You can consult Dr. Jason Jones at our Chiropractic Office in Elizabeth City NC, to get recommendations of some natural supplements and measures to keep your sleep cycle in good shape.