A friend of mine recently began to look and feel quite unwell – blotchy face, nervousness, anxiety, a drugged feeling, and nightmares.  Turned out she had began taking a drug to help her sleep better.  Her sleep improved only marginally with the medication, but the adverse effects were too much and she finally weaned herself off the drug.  Most of the adverse effects resolved, and she slept no worse without the drug than with it – with the advantage feeling better during the day and getting rid of the nightmares.

What is sleep for?  Shakespeare said it best in his inimitable fashion: “ Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care,
The death of each day's life, sore labor's bath,
Balm of hurt minds, great nature's second course,
Chief nourisher in life's feast" (Macbeth 2.2.35-39).

We can’t do without it.  Sleep deprivation is one of the elements of torture.  People complain if they have trouble sleeping. We wish each other to “sleep well.”   A good night’s sleep helps us wake up refreshed, energetic, ready for the challenges of the upcoming day.  And yet, there are many who feel that sleep is a waste of time.

In our society, life conspires against sleep;  you can keep the lights on  and watch TV 24/7.  This is especially true in New York City, which prides itself in being “the city that never sleeps.”  The more I think about it, the less I think this should be something to advertise.  Stores are open all night, lights are on all night,.   You’d think you could indeed be awake 24/7 and get a lot accomplished.  But in truth, you couldn’t.  What happens if you don’t sleep?  Here is a true example:  One family in Italy suffers what has been called “fatal familial insomnia”, in which several members, when they hit their 50’s, became chronically unable to sleep or even nap.  The effects are grim:

“Your pupils become tiny. Men become impotent. Your blood pressure and pulse become elevated, and you sweat heavily as your body goes into overdrive. Over the ensuing months, you try desperately, incessantly to sleep, sometimes closing your eyes but never succeeding in falling into more than a light stupor that provides no actual rest. Inside your brain, the traffic light that controls activity is perpetually green.

A downward progression ensues as your ability to balance, walk or speak disappears. Perhaps most tragic, your ability to think remains intact; you often know exactly what is happening. At first, you can talk about your agony and even write down your thoughts. Eventually you lose this level of coordination. As your body shuts down, only the desperate look in your eyes shows that you know what is going on. In the final phase, usually after several months, you fall into a state of exhaustion resembling a coma and, mercifully, die.   (CASE STUDY: FATAL FAMILIAL INSOMNIA; LOCATION: VENICE, By D.T. MAX  - Published: New York Times Magazine, May 6, 2001)

You need sleep most of all to restore brain function and remove stress;  you need it for repair of all your tissues and organs, and for healing anything.  If you’re sick or hurt, plenty of sleep  helps you get better faster.  Interestingly, as writer Bill Hayes has pointed out, “Sleep acts more like an emotion than a bodily function. As with desire, it cannot be pursued; it must overtake you.”  (LIVES:  The Insomniac - By Bill Hayes - New York Times, July 21, 1996)

The environment matters.  Although my bedroom is reasonably quiet, I never noticed that it really wasn’t until I spent the night at the house of a relative in a Chicago suburb.  The bedroom was completely still, and dark.  Not a peep, not a flicker of billboard or even street lamp – and I had one of the best nights of sleep I’ve had in a long time.

Here is how you know you are sleeping well:

You fall asleep within 10 minutes of “lights out.”  You feel you “disappear” and when you wake up, you “reappear.”  You wake up naturally at the time you need to wake up (this you can do by telling yourself the night before what time you need to wake up). Careful with alarm clocks:  they may interrupt you at a bad place in the sleep cycle, and then all day you feel grumpy and tired.

Most people need 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night;  if they get less, a nap may be in order.  Some can do with 5 or 6, except if they keep falling asleep during the day or loading up on the coffee, it’s not really true.  It is dangerous to sleep too little, especially if you are driving that day, or working with machinery.

What to do, then, if you have trouble sleeping?

Often, sleep problems come from stress and repetitive thoughts.  Caffeine worsens those, so, first of all, cut out all caffeine.  Even one cup of coffee in the morning may cause sleeplessness at about 4-5 a.m.  Black or green tea can do that too.  It may take several days to withdraw from caffeine – and of course it should be done very gradually, as otherwise you’ll get some nasty headaches.  Caffeine is found in coffee, of course, as well as decaf (yes! Traces remain), black tea, green tea, colas, chocolate in all its forms, and of course in desserts and ice cream containing any of the above.  If you get a headache and taking an over-the-counter medication helps eliminate it, read the label and ingredients;  if there is caffeine in it, your headache comes from caffeine withdrawal.  Of course, taking several of those pills can then give you a new headache!

Secondly, make sure your bedroom is very quiet, and dark.  That may be hard to do, but it’s worth the effort, or at least you can make adjustments.  My bedroom looks east, and in the summer when the sun comes up I easily wake at 5 am or so, whenever the light comes on.  My solution has been to get one of those eye pillows – I have a couple, covered in silk, and filled with lavender blossoms.  Putting that over my eyes  keeps the light out and helps me sleep until it’s time to get up.

There are a number of herbs that are known to help sleep.  Valerian is one, but I’ve never taken it so I cannot report on its effectiveness;  however, I found that a warm bath infused with valerian is an excellent sleep inducer.  Chamomile is another popular herb for relaxing;  a cup of hot tea with a half a teaspoon of honey can be very helpful.  The honey by itself (no more than half a teaspoon!) is another possibility. 

A very helpful remedy for repetitive stress thoughts is the Bach Flower “Rescue Remedy.”   In fact, a study published in the Complementary Health Practice Review  in June 2007 showed  it  to be greatly effective at reducing anxiety and stress with no adverse effects (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-06/ni-uom062807.php). Try a dropperful before going to sleep, or even if you wake up during the night.

And of course there is always my favorite anti-stress and anti-insomnia remedy: 

Apple juice kuzu pudding

1 cup cold apple juice, 2 tablespoons kuzu chunks, a quarter tsp vanilla (optional)

Mix juice and kuzu until no lumps remain.  Add vanilla if used.  Heat over a low flame, stirring all the time, until it thickens and boils;  drink hot. (1 serving)

Second best, if you can’t get the kuzu, try plain hot unfiltered apple cider with some cinnamon.  Yum!  And relaxing too.

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