Treating Insomnia with Medication

If you are suffering from the inability to fall asleep at night, or stay asleep during the night, you could have insomnia. It is a common sleep disorder, that affects a lot of people and that leaves many people unable to get the rest and sleep each night that they need. For some people, they think it is normal, and assume they are not able to sleep because of stress, or other common factors that could be keeping them awake. But if it is persistent, and you are not able to sleep or stay asleep for a period of time, it could be a more serious problem, and you could be diagnosed with insomnia.

Insomnia happens when the body and mind are not able to reach the level of relaxation and rest that is necessary in order to fall asleep. It can be very frustrating to those who suffer from it because they may feel as though they are relaxed, and may feel sleepy, but be unable to fall asleep. For some, it is a matter of not being able to sleep through the night.

Whatever it is that causes insomnia, if you go on for nights without being able to sleep, you need to figure out what you can do to make it better, and find a way to be able to sleep. It can be as easy as trying different types of relaxation techniques and finding ways to be able to relax your body and your mind to the point that you are able to fall asleep. While these techniques may work for some people, others are not able to go without trying a medication. You can find a lot of medications that are available for helping you fall asleep, and some are available over the counter, while others require a prescription to take them.

You may have heard about potential negative side effects that you could experience by taking treating insomnia with medication and sleep products, and while some people may experience some of the negative side effects, others find that it is the only way to be able to fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night. Talk to your doctor about what medications are available, and what may be a good one for you to try if you have tried other things, and are still unable to get the sleep that you need.

10 Tips to beat Insomnia and get a good nights Sleep

1. The bedroom is for sleeping
Do you have a television in your room? Can you be found in your bedroom when you are not even in a remotely sleepy mood? Well stop! This is very detrimental, and wont help your sleeping patterns. By using your bed only for sleeping you are letting your body know right this is where and when you sleep. Whereas if you are constantly on your bed watching TV or doing crosswords then you are stepping over the sleep/wake barrier and making it harder for yourself to actually get some quality ’shut-eye’ when the time comes.

2. Set Times
It is essential to set yourself a bedtime and a waking up time. No matter how hard it may seem to get up in the morning it is for your own good. By doing so you are setting yourself a body clock. Too often then not insomniacs sleeping and waking patterns get pushed later and later. And each time they do you are setting a bad habit for yourself and making it harder to come back to sleep normality. Set that time and stick to it!

3. Create a Space
The old saying ‘a cluttered space is a cluttered mind’ certainly rings true. It is important that your bedroom is a calming and relaxing space, keep it clean, perhaps invest in a some extra soft pillows and change the lighting. A few small changes to your room can make it a calming environment. And less mess means less distractions.

4. Drink easy
Obvious things like stimulants should be avoided, not just at night but throughout the day. Caffeine and energy drinks are a huge no no, playing havoc with your bodies natural ‘clock’ avoid at all costs. Milk on the other hand contains tryptophan, which when converted into serotonin promote healthy sleep.

5. Watch your diet
What are you eating or snacking on throughout the day? There are numerous foodstuffs that are proven to help sleep. Try increasing the amount of leafy greens you are eating – especially lettuce. Whole grain food such as brown rice and oats are also beneficial as the carbohydrates induce a sleepy feeling. And avoid ‘junk’ type food with no nutritional value, such as biscuits and crisps.

6. Exercise
Pretty self explanatory right? We all know the huge health benefits of exercising, it releases endorphins in the brain and keeps you healthy and fit. But it also tires you out, getting the right amount of exercise a day will help you hit the pillow when it’s time time to sleep.

7. Avoid naps
As tempting as it may seem, napping in the day will not do you any favours. Instead try and keep your self busy and occupied, set yourself a task, go for or walk or try and exercise. Once you have pushed past that sleepy stage it should be much easier to continue with your day and also prepare you for bedtime when it is actually bedtime.

8. Midnight Feast
Eating a big meal before bedtime can hinder your sleeping success. Your body needs time to digest the meal – it may also leave you feeling bloated and uncomfortable. Try eating at least 4 hours before you sleep to give your body the proper time it needs.

9. Hot stuff
Indulge in a hot bath or shower before you go to bed. Ladies you might even want to have a few drops of pure lavender essential oil in the bath to create a more calming space. The hot water helps soothe tired muscles and prepare your body for the land of nod.

10. Be happy
Okay this doesn’t apply to everyone but if you feel your sleeping problems are produced by to much worry of fear of something, then you need try and work it out. Choose a time in the morning where you can write down issues or things that you are upsetting you and try and write a lost of all the things you can think of to solve these problems. Also try talking it through with someone you trust or even a counsellor may help. Once you have got these issues off your chest you should feel much better and more able to sleep when need be.

Sleep Disturbance Preceding Completed Suicide in Adolescents

Genevie`ve Belleville and Charles M. Morin
E´
cole de Psychologie, Universite´ Laval, Centre de Recherche Universite´ Laval–Robert-Giffard
Objective: To compare individuals who were successful in discontinuing hypnotic medications against
those who were not on measures of insomnia severity, medication withdrawal symptoms, psychological
symptoms, perceived health, readiness to change and self-efficacy. Design: Secondary analyses of a
randomized clinical trial comparing a hypnotic taper intervention with or without self-help treatment for
insomnia. Main Outcome Measures: Self-report measures of insomnia severity, medication withdrawal
symptoms, depression and anxiety symptoms, physical and mental health, stages of change, readiness to
change, decisional balance, and general and situational self-efficacy. Results: There were no significant
differences at baseline between medication-free individuals and those still using sleep medication at the
end of a taper intervention. Group differences emerged midway through the 8-week withdrawal program
and were accentuated after the intervention; participants who remained medication-free during the next
six months had less severe insomnia and anxiety symptoms, a more positive perception of their health
and higher self-efficacy to refrain from hypnotic use in various situations. Contrary to expectations, there
were no differences between drug-free and nondrug-free participants on both readiness to change and
stages of change. Conclusions: Chronic users of hypnotic medications entered a taper intervention with
equal levels of psychological distress, health, self-efficacy, and readiness to change. Successful hypnotic
discontinuation was associated with overall improvement of insomnia, anxiety and distress symptoms,
perceived health and self-efficacy. More intensive and individualized therapeutic attention may be
warranted for individuals experiencing worsening of insomnia symptoms, more withdrawal symptoms
and psychological distress, and lower self-efficacy during medication discontinuation.
Keywords: hypnotic taper, insomnia, readiness to change, self-efficacy
Between 5% and 12% of the general population use a medication
to get relief from their sleep difficulties (Ohayon & Caulet,
1996). However, some people will use hypnotic medication for a
longer period of time than what was first planned. Prevalence of
long-term, continuous benzodiazepine (BZD) use is around 1% or
2% of all BZD users (Simon, VonKorff, Barlow, Pabiniak, &
Wagner, 1996), but a prevalence indicator of long-term BZD use
as high as 19.8% has been reported in a sample of communitydwelling
older adults (Egan, Moride, Wolfson, & Monette, 2000).
Among determinants of long-term hypnotic use, age, health and
psychological distress are the most often cited (Egan et al., 2000;
Simon et al., 1996).
In general, pharmacotherapy is an efficient treatment option for
transient insomnia (Nowell, 1997). However, prolonged use of BZD,
and to a lesser extent newer BZD-receptor agonists (e.g., zopiclone,
zolpidem), has been associated with cognitive and psychomotor impairment
(Glass, Lanctoˆt, Herrmann, Sproule, & Busto, 2005) and
increased risks of tolerance and dependence (Soldatos, Dikeos, &
Whitehead, 1999). It is recognized that behavioral approaches, alone
or combined with brief pharmacotherapy, should be preferred to
continuous long-term use of hypnotics to treat chronic insomnia
(National Institutes of Health, 2005).
Supervised hypnotic taper scheduled over an 8- to 10-week
period and psychological interventions, mainly within the
cognitive– behavioral approach, has been shown effective to facilitate
hypnotic discontinuation among chronic hypnotic users, with
50% to 67% achieving medication-free status (e.g., Morin et al.,
2004). However, around one third of chronic users are unable to
discontinue their sleep medication. Studies examining the reasons
why some chronic hypnotic users successfully reach a drug-free
status while others do not are scarce. Anxiety and psychological
distress have been associated with unsuccessful outcomes, while
increased self-efficacy (or the perceived ability to refrain from
using hypnotics) was observed only within participants who successfully
quit (O’Connor et al., 2004). Another study has reported
a positive association between self-efficacy and compliance to a
BZD taper (Be´langer, Morin, Bastien & Ladouceur, 2005). Pharmacological
factors, such as dosage, duration of treatment, and
half-life of BZD, have also been associated with discontinuation
outcome (Gorgels et al., 2006). Even among participants reaching
a drug-free status, relapse rates are relatively high, sometimes
exceeding 50% (Morin et al., 2004). In a survival analysis of
relapse after successful discontinuation of benzodiazepines for
insomnia (Morin, Be´langer, Bastien & Vallie`res, 2005), psychological
distress, insomnia severity, and treatment (taper alone,
cognitive-behavior therapy for insomnia or a combined approach)
were identified as significant predictors of relapse.

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