INSOMNIA : TREATMENT
If your insomnia is due to a temporary stress in your life, your sleep habits will return to normal once it ends. In the meantime, try to take catnaps during the day whenever you feel tired. The traditional advice for insomnia—warm milk before going to bed and using your bed only for sleeping—may work for you. It may help if you stay busy during the day and eliminate eating late at night and drinking caffeinated beverages past midafternoon. Staying up later until you’re really tired sometimes helps. And if you’re getting up in the middle of the night to urinate and find that it’s hard to fall back asleep, don’t drink liquids after 8 P.M. If your insomnia lasts longer than a week, however, and these suggestions haven’t worked, you should see your doctor. When I complete the examination and conclude that a patient’s inability to sleep is due to stress, he or she often asks me for a prescription to induce sleep. I try to discourage them, since most sleeping medications are extremely habit forming, and the effects usually only last for a few days before they begin to lose their effectiveness. Certain sleep-inducing medications may also cause short-term memory loss.
The effects of over-the-counter sleeping medications are of a very limited duration. These preparations typically consist of a natural sedative called tryptophan, which is the same substance that makes us feel sleepy after a turkey dinner. Use them only once in a great while, if you must.
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