Unfortunately many of us do not get the sleep we need. Americans sleep less than ever before, losing an average 2 hours or 20% than those who lived in the century before. About 40 million American reports chronic sleep trouble. Sleep depravation could very well contribute to the stress, disease and accidents that we suffer as a nation Sleep experiments have shown that us two hours less sleep for five nights can put us in a foul mood, leaving us often sick as well as unhappy. Th e greater the sleep deprivation, the greater the impact.One study showed that people sleeping fewer that six hours nightly have a 30 percent higher death rate from cancer, heart disease, stroke, and all other causes than those who sleep seven or eight hours per night.
The two most common forms of sleeplessness are sleep onset inset insomnia and sleep maintenance insomnia. In both cases, symptoms can include daytime sleepiness, impaired memory, difficulty in concentrating, slow thinking, irritability, depression, erratic behavior and poor health.
Sleeping medications do not work. They have been called "dangerously over prescribed: by Ralph Nader's Public Citizen organization and "one of the biggest rip-offs in the drugstore" by the Berkeley Wellness Letter. Americans take two to three billion doses of them each year. Sleeping medications interrupt natural sleeping patterns and knock the user out by deadening the nervous system, In the Mean time, the FDA has pulled 1-tryptophan, a miracle worker for some, off the market.
What do you do if you can't sleep?
Recently a new, natural and totally safe sleep inducer appeared on health food store shelves around the country. It is Melatonin (me a toe' non).
Melatonin is a naturally occurring hormone in our bodies which is secreted by the pineal gland. Tryptophan is the raw material for this hormone. Tryptophan, and essential amino acid, becomes serotonin, the soothing neurotransmitter, which through enzymatic action becomes melatonin. Most people need 500 to 2000 mg of tryptophan for sleep. Melatonin is available in 3 mg tablets, and in most cases 3-6 mg is all that is needed to help you get to rest easily. It is very important that your dose be taken right before bedtime and not earlier. The melatonin is readily absorbed and serum levels elevate rapidly and sustain a high plateau for an hour or two. Tablets taken currently available do not replicate nature's nighttime because the liver very efficiently metabolizes oral melatonin.
Sleep problems such as insomnia, nightmares, and disturbing nocturnal hallucinations, plus daytime difficulties, including lassitude, dizziness, and depressions have also been shown to be the cause of melatonin deficiency. Melatonin supplements have also proven useful in restoring normal slumber in both clinical sleep syndrome and narcolepsy. Persons with delayed sleep phase syndrome are unable to fall asleep until 2-3 a.m.
Nutrition News© 1990 VOL XIII. No. 7 Siri Khalsa, Riverside, CA 93507 ISSN 8756-5919