Everything You Need to Know about Sleeping Pills
plus Effective Natural Alternatives to these Deadly Pills
It was 1999 and she was only 41 the day she died. Sleeping pills.
No, this isn’t a story of a celebrity overdose, or mixing pills with alcohol. This is a story of a sister, a mother, a woman who was happy and loved by her family. This is the story of taking a single prescribed dose of a supposedly safe sleeping medication and never waking up.
Brenda (name changed to protect the family) was a 41-year-old woman in the prime of her life, happy and outgoing, she generally had her life together.
She was not one to abuse medication, but on this fateful day, after a few weeks of sleepless nights, she chose to take a sleeping pill. A pill approved by our government, recommended by her doctor and believed to be safe.
And she never woke up.
Everyone assumed it was an overdose. After all, sleeping pills only kill if you abuse them, right?
We were all at a loss, we couldn’t believe that this woman who had never abused drugs in her life would overdose.
And we were right.
The coroner only found a single dose in her system. The sleeping pill had caused Brenda’s breathing to slow until she suffocated in her sleep. They called it a freak allergic reaction but ½ a million deaths are attributed to sleeping pills each year…
Counting Sheep
We all struggle to sleep from time to time, tossing and turning, watching the hours tick by. Perhaps it is an overactive mind, stress or depression that is keeping you awake. But as we search for a solution, many of us are tempted to pop a pill.
We assume that these Sleeping Pills are safe. After all, they have been approved by our government for sale.
We see them advertised twenty times a night while we watch our favorite programs.
But are they really safe? Or have we just been duped into believing they are harmless?
Sleeping Pills like Lunesta, Ambien, Sonata and Rozerem are all household names, thanks to the billions of dollars spent by Pharmaceutical companies on advertising campaigns.
These advertisements are designed to make the pills look appealing, with butterflies and soothing images. We are programmed to believe these pills are safe and the perfect solution to our restless minds and poor dietary choices.
Many of these ads even say that you will awake the next day rested and ready to tackle your day. Although the side effects listed clearly indicate the opposite is true.
They prey on the frustration you feel at being exhausted. They prey on the fact that we all have overactive minds from time to time. They want us to believe that this magical pill will solve our problems in the easiest way possible, with no negative ramifications.
Unfortunately, this is not the case at all. As with most advertisements, these pills are too good to be true. The Pharmacuetical company doesn’t care if you sleep well, they only care about your money.
A study by Dr. Daniel F. Kripke, M.D., of the Scripps Clinic Sleep Center in La Jolla, California found that patients who had been prescribed a Prescription Sleep Aid were 4.56 times more likely to die in the next 2.5 years than patients who were not taking any sleep aids.
Taking Prescription Sleeping Pills also correlated to a 20% to 99% increase in Cancer depending on the brand:
“Most surprisingly, even those in the lowest third of sleeping pill consumption (0.4 to 18 doses per year) were 3.6 times more likely to die. Those in the middle third of consumption (18 to 132 doses per year) were 4.43 times more likely to die, and those in the top third (more than 132 doses per year) were 5.32 times more likely to die, suggesting a dose-response relationship.
Sleeping pill users in the middle third had a 20% increased risk of developing a new major cancer, whereas those in the top third of users had a 35% increased risk. Zolpidem users in the top third had a 28% increased risk of major cancer. Temazepam users in the middle third had a 44% increased risk of major cancer, and users in the top third had a 99% increased risk. ”
-Sleeping Pills May Dramatically Increase Death Rate – Daniel Weiss, Senior Editor Tuesday, March 6, 2012, http://www.pharmacytimes.com/news/sleeping-pills-may-dramatically-increase-death-rate
The Addiction and Dependence Cycle
Sleeping pills are physically and emotionally addictive. When they are used for an extended period of time your body will come to rely on the pills and you will not be able to fall asleep without them.
Sleeping pills can also cause an emotional addiction, where you begin to believe that you can not sleep without the pill. This emotional and physical addiction, as well as the bodies growing tolerance to the pills, can lead to a deadly overdose as you need to take more pills for them to be effective.
But even worse, rather than being able to just pop a pill once in a while to get caught up on sleep, sleeping pills actually disrupt your sleep patterns, leading to a circle of dependence and a state of chronic lack of sleep.
Although you sleep when you take a sleeping pill, you don’t gain the same health benefits as you do with natural sleep.
Benzodiazepines, the most common form of sleeping pills, disrupt both your REM (rapid eye movement) and reduce your slow wave sleep (deep sleep) which are the most important parts of the sleep cycle, the times where your body repairs itself, processes the events of the day, and files away your memories.
This disruption creates a negative sleep imbalance the next day, which leads to you taking the pills again. Your bodies natural rhythms become disrupted causing a negative spiral of dependence.
Sleep is one of the most important health parameters which is often taken for granted. Chronic lack of sleep can trigger hallucinations, depression, suicidal thoughts, impulsive behavior, and paranoia. Sleep deprivation also raises your risk of Heart Attack, Heart Disease, Stroke, Diabetes, High Blood Pressure and may even raise your risk of Cancer.
Sleeping Pills, due to their tendency to disrupt your sleep patterns, leading to a chronic lack of REM and Deep sleep raise your risk of all of these diseases.
In the short term, Sleeping pills supposed blessing also come with a tremendous list of negative side effects, including making you less alert the following day. Below is a list of just some of the negative side effects of the most popular brands of sleeping pills:
Side Effects of Prescription Sleeping Pills
If you look back at that list, you will notice that there are many symptoms which indicate neural effects, or that the pills are changing or disrupting your brain. Since there is so much that we still don’t know about our most powerful and important organ, is it really worth the risk?
Especially when there are so many natural remedies, harmless behavioral changes, and easy dietary changes that we can make to reach the same end? Sure a pill may seem like a good idea in that moment of restless frustration, but the lifetime of dealing with the damage caused does not seem to me like a smart risk. What about you?
Better Alternatives to Sleeping Pills
So what are the better options? What can we do to get the sleep that is so necessary to a healthy, disease free life?
There are actually a lot of effective options from herbal supplements to eliminating sleep disrupting foods and beverages, to simple behavioral modifications that will all help you get the right amount of deep, restful and rejuvenating sleep. I’ll talk about all those in just a moment, but lets quickly take a look at what a good night’s sleep really is.
How much sleep should I be getting?
Several recent studies have put this number between 5.5 and 7.5 hours of sleep as the ideal amount for an adult. Sleeping more than 8 hours or less than 6 hours increases your overall risk of death. The farther from this range, the greater the risk of disease and overall mortality.
But oversleeping can actually be more detrimental than lack of sleep.
One recent study showed that those who on average slept 9 hours or more had a 30% higher mortality rate than those sleeping 6-8 hours. Those sleeping 5 hours or less had a 12% greater mortality rate.
So if you have been trying to get that eight hours and your body says its time to get up after 6 hours, it’s time to listen to your body. If you are getting 6-8 hours of sleep but you are still feeling tired, it may be time to assess your diet. Your body is telling you that you are not giving it the correct fuel to get you through the day.
Check out Healthy Habits to learn about how to fuel your body for ultimate health and abundant energy.
So now that you know how much sleep you should be getting, let’s talk about how to get the best nights rest possible.
What’s keeping you up? Eliminating the cause of your insomnia will let you sleep restfully.
Let’s look at a few common things which keep us awake: caffeine, sugar, and stress. If you regularly have trouble sleeping, you may be consuming too much caffeine and sugar throughout the day or it may be stress or discontent that is keeping you awake.
Caffeine
Caffeine can stay in your system for as long as 28 hours after consumption and the average half-life of caffeine is 3-5 hours, with some people showing a half-life of up to 9 hours.
This means that if you are sensitive to caffeine, even a cup of coffee or other caffeinated beverage in the morning may be affecting your sleep that same night.
If you choose to consume caffeinated beverages and foods, avoid consuming them at least 6 hours before bedtime. This includes coffee, green and black teas, Yerba Mate, sodas, energy drinks, chocolate and all chocolate-containing foods and beverages, like hot cocoa, chocolate ice cream, chocolate yogurts, or chocolate cupcakes, etc.
Also, check any prescription or OTC medications as well as vitamins and diet pills or supplements which may also contain caffeine. Eliminate these pills immediately if possible, or if they are prescription medications check with your doctor for an alternative that does not contain caffeine. If you cannot eliminate these pills, try to take them as early in the day as possible.
Caffeine is a highly addictive drug and as such you will experience some symptoms of withdrawal if you go cold turkey. Cutting back gradually over 1 to 2 weeks may be a better long-term plan to avoid withdrawal symptoms. Symptoms of caffeine withdrawal include headaches, irritability, constipation, sleepiness, depression, muscle pain, cramping, stiffness and lack of concentration among others.
Sugar in all its sneaky forms
If you ate anything today that wasn’t a raw fruit or vegetable in its most natural form, then you likely had some hidden sugar today. Sugar is everywhere in our food today thanks to some brilliant marketing by Sugar Industry Executives.
Everything from our breakfast cereal to our canned vegetables contains sugar, and sometimes it isn’t even obvious. There are at least 61 different names for sugar on nutrition labels that our government has approved so that companies can dupe us into thinking that a product does not contain sugar.
From sucrose and high-fructose corn syrup to barley malt, dextrose, maltose and rice syrup there are so many hidden sources of sugar that the average American consumes 66 pounds of hidden sugar a year.
So what happens when you consume sugar close to bedtime? How does that affect your ability to fall asleep and to sleep well? You can see from the illustration that those late night snacks or your favorite dessert may just be the key to your insomnia.
When you consume sugar, in any form, whether it is white sugar, wheat products or hidden sugar in any of it’s 61 fancy names, it causes a spike in your blood sugar. Eat this sugar within a few hours of bedtime and the sleep deficit cycle begins.
When your blood sugar spikes, the pancreas releases insulin to get the sugar quickly out of your blood stream.
Since most of us already have a strained pancreas due to the high levels of processed foods, sugars and starches we consume, our pancreas tends to overreact, dumping too much insulin. The insulin eats up all of the sugar and this now leads to a blood sugar crash.
This blood sugar crash alerts our adrenal glands that there is an emergency and now our adrenals pump Cortisol, the stress hormone, to counteract this dangerous low blood sugar situation. This release of Cortisol counteracts the natural melatonin, which our body naturally produces to allow us to fall asleep and sleep well.
So now with this battle raging in our body, our sleep is disrupted and we toss and turn. But even worse, this nighttime blood sugar rollercoaster drains our adrenal glands, leading to adrenal fatigue.
Guess what? Adrenal fatigue is just another name for being tired all the time.
The adrenal glands are responsible for our energy levels. If they become drained they are unable to recover efficiently and therefore you become more tired.
So now we wake up exhausted and so we grab a cup of coffee in the morning, which further drains your adrenal glands. Then at lunch we grab a caffeinated beverage and causing more damage, further draining our energy.
It is a crazy cycle which can only be broken by recognizing the cycle and jumping off the wheel. Break up with the sugar and the caffeinated beverages and you will be tired for a few days, but after a short time, your adrenals will repair themselves. You will begin to experience restful and restorative sleep and you will wonder how you ever ended up on this crazy train in the first place.
Stress – The Ultimate Insomnia Battle
We all experience stress from time to time in our life. Some levels of stress are healthy and can be beneficial. But when stress is keeping you awake at night, something needs to be done. The kind of stress that keeps you up at night is also the kind of stress that shortens your life.
While no one particularly likes to hear this, the best way to handle stress is to turn and face what is bothering you head on. We often allow ourselves to become stressed over small things, which in our minds manifest into huge worries or problems.
So the first step to tackling stress is to truly identify what it is you are dealing with. Grab a piece of paper and a pen and write down exactly what is stressing you out. Sometimes getting the stress down on paper makes it feel that much more manageable and really lets you see how insignificant this worry is in the grand scheme of your life.
But sometimes there are big things that are stressing you out. Perhaps the illness of a loved one, a recently lost job or a difficult financial situation. These legitimate stresses will need to be dealt with if you are to regain your sleep and your sanity and save your health.
The longer you take to act on these stressful situations the bigger the problem becomes. So if you are facing a stressful situation that needs a resolution, right now is the time to come up with a plan.
Take that same notebook paper and write down at least 3 things that would make the situation better. It doesn’t matter if the first 3 things that you write down are completely ridiculous or not achievable, just write them down and get the ball rolling.
Continue to focus on any solutions no matter how far fetched until you come across something that is an action that you can take now, or tomorrow morning to make a difference. Even if this doesn’t fix the problem, you will still be lessening your stress just by taking action.
Here are a few other suggestions for reducing stress:
- Get some exercise – it doesn’t have to be crazy, just go for a walk around the block.
- Turn off all Technology – at least an hour before bedtime – that means TV, Video Games, your phone, all of it. Give yourself time to disconnect completely from all programming and distractions.
- Take that hour and meditate or just sit and allow yourself to think. (This will be scary at first for some of us.)
- Release the guilt from your inner conversation- you are only human, you are doing the best you can do, even if you only gave 40% today, that was still your best for today. It’s okay not to be perfect, its okay to not always be 100%, stop beating yourself up.
- Grab a notebook and brain dump- just start writing everything you are thinking about, it could be a to-do list for tomorrow, or something that is bothering you, or something that made you angry or sad, just get it out. Release it to the atmosphere and let it be swept away.
- Tell your subconscious to solve the problem. Write down on a card or a piece of scratch “I will awake tomorrow morning, rested and refreshed with the answer to (your problem). I give myself permission to sleep restfully so I may best solve this problem.” Repeat this to yourself 3 times before bed. (This is a Think a Grow Rich Secret)
What to do if you still can’t sleep?
Some days we still need a little bit of help . Maybe our diet wasn’t the best, maybe we are feeling stressed or we are just struggling to put our minds to rest. There are natural alternatives to the dangerous sleeping pills that the pharmaceutical companies want to get you hooked on. From Herbal Teas to Herbal Pills there are a number of safe alternatives to turn to when you need it most.
Here are a few of my favorites:
100% Natural and Side Effect Free Herbal Sleeping Pill
Bio Terra Herbs offers a completely natural and plant based Sleeping Pill alternative called Sleep…Snooze and it really works. All BioTerra Herbs dietary supplements are vegan, gluten-free, Non-GMO Project Verified and 100% natural.
The Sleep…Snooze herbal formula contains four powerful herbs which help you to gently and naturally fall asleep: Jujube, Chinese Salvia , Schisandra, and Turmeric.
Sleep…Snooze has no adverse side effects and will not leave you feeling drugged or dull the next day.
I personally use these pills when I find myself counting sheep and I am always amazed at how great I feel the next day. I typically drift off to sleep within ten to twenty minutes and sleep soundlessly and happily dreaming throughout the night.
When I wake in the morning, there is no grogginess or disorientation. My only complaint about this product is that it is not Certified Organic, but the company did say that they will work toward their organic certifications, so hopefully they will be able to bring a certified organic version to the market soon.
Sleep Well Tea, Supplement and Essential Oil Pack
GoDesana offers a Sleep Well Pack which includes their Soothe the Soul Herbal Tea, a liquid Magnesium supplement and two essential oil blends that promote relaxation and stress relief. The Soothe the Soul Herbal Tea includes Rooibos Red Tea, which is a caffeine-free tea that is rich in minerals and contains more antioxidants than green tea. It also contains a number of herbs that relax and calm the body and mind and promote restful sleep including Gotu Kola, Lemon Balm, and Passion Flower. It also includes Licorice Root which has been shown to repair adrenal fatigue leading to both a better night’s rest and more energy the following day.
The Soothe the Soul Herbal Tea includes Rooibos Red Tea, which is a caffeine-free tea that is rich in minerals and contains more antioxidants than green tea. It also contains a number of herbs that relax and calm the body and mind and promote restful sleep including Gotu Kola, Lemon Balm, and Passion Flower. It also includes Licorice Root which has been shown to repair adrenal fatigue leading to both a better night’s rest and more energy the following day.
It also contains a number of herbs that relax and calm the body and mind and promote restful sleep including Gotu Kola, Lemon Balm, and Passion Flower. It also includes Licorice Root which has been shown to repair adrenal fatigue leading to both a better night’s rest and more energy the following day.
Soothe the Soul also includes Licorice Root which has the ability to repair adrenal fatigue leading to both a better night’s rest and more energy the following day.
Magnesium is essential to restful sleep, yet it is one of the most common deficiencies for Americans. Magnesium deficiency can lead to all of these health issues: Depression, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, ADHD, Epilepsy, Parkinson’s Disease, Sleep problems, Migraines, Cluster Headaches, Osteoporosis, Premenstrual Syndrome, Chest Pain (Angina), Cardiac Arrhythmia, Coronary Artery Disease and Atherosclerosis, Hypertension, Type II Diabetes and Asthma.
The Sleep Well Pack also includes two essential oil blends to promote relaxation and restful sleep Lavender Chamomile and Still. Lavender Chamomile is a relaxing, calming, and soothing blend which is used for calming stress, tension, anxiety, and treating insomnia. Still can help relax and quiet the mind, body, and spirit while encouraging more restful sleep.
Soothing Teas to Help You Sleep Better
Traditional Medicinals offers a wonderfully soothing organic Lavender and Chamomile Tea which is great for just before bed or anytime you are feeling stressed. This tea will not put you to sleep but it will help you calm your nerves and conquer the stress that may be keeping you awake.
These supplements are all meant to help treat insomnia in the short term. There is no substitute for a healthy diet if you want to live a long and healthy life, free of pain, disease and depression. Make today the day you decide to dump the science projects and get back to real food.
Raw, Whole Food, Plant-Based Nutrition can heal your body and your soul. Choose to love yourself today. If you don’t know where to start, check out my Recipes or the Healthy Habits section for everything you need to know to become a healthy, happy and balanced human today. I would love to hear your thoughts, please comment below if you have any questions, thoughts or tips to offer.
Resources:
“Side Effects of Sleeping Pills: Common and Potentially Harmful Side Effects.” WebMD. Ed. Joseph Goldberg, M.D. WebMD, 30 Oct. 2014. Web. 04 June 2016. <http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/understanding-the-side-effects-of-sleeping-pills>.
“U.S. Food and Drug Administration.” Side Effects of Sleep Drugs. FDA.gov, n.d. Web. 04 June 2016. <http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm107757.htm>.
Kripike, M.D., Daniel F. “Sleeping Pills Could Shorten Your Life: Chapter 1 of The Dark Side of Sleeping Pills, an Ebook by Daniel F. Kripke, M.D.”Sleeping Pills Could Shorten Your Life: Chapter 1 of The Dark Side of Sleeping Pills, an Ebook by Daniel F. Kripke, M.D. N.p., Mar. 2013. Web. 04 June 2016. <http://darksideofsleepingpills.com/>.
Alexander, Ruth. “Why a Long Night’s Sleep May Be Bad for You.” BBC News. BBC News, 24 Mar. 2015. Web. 04 June 2016. <http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31928434>.
Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Military Nutrition Research. “Caffeine for the Sustainment of Mental Task Performance: Formulations for Military Operations.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. NCBI – NIH.gov, 2001. Web. 4 June 2016. <https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/caffeine#section=Metabolism-Metabolites>.
PubChem. “Caffeine.” PubChem. PubChem – National Institute of Health, 16 Sept. 2004. Web. 4 June 2016. <https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/caffeine#section=Metabolism-Metabolites>.
Weiss, Daniel. “Sleeping Pills May Dramatically Increase Death Rate.”Pharmacy Times. N.p., 6 Mar. 2012. Web. 04 June 2016. <http://www.pharmacytimes.com/news/sleeping-pills-may-dramatically-increase-death-rate>.
Devi, M.D., Gayatri. “This Is Your Brain on Drugs: The Effect of Sleeping Pills.” The Huffington Post. N.p., 17 Nov. 2011. Web. 4 June 2016. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gayatri-devi-md/this-is-your-brain-on-dru_b_439577.html>.