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"An hour before bed, turn off your iPad or computer, and don't text or watch TV," said Harris. Don't be afraid of the dark.Īrtificial light messes with your internal clock and acts as a stimulant, inhibiting the flow of melatonin. RELATED: Why my husband and I sleep apart 3. As your body cools, it transitions more easily into sleep mode once you lie down. Most frightening of all, "insomnia can be a symptom of depression, and depressed patients who take sleeping pills have an increased risk of suicide." Likewise, sleep apnea, when treated with Rx sleep meds, can turn fatal.Īnother trick: Take a hot bath before bed. "Taking a pill won't get to the underlying issue," said Westbrook. Simply put, drugs may be a godsend for temporary insomnia, but continuous use could be dangerous. "The bottom line is that prescription sleeping pills are a short-term solution," said Maas. Plus, said Westbrook, no studies show what extended use of these drugs does to your body. Rare but scary side effects include things like memory loss and sleepwalking, sleep driving or sleep sex. "Though people are not hooked on them physiologically, they can develop a psychological dependence and think they'll never sleep if they don't take a pill," she said. Even the new class of nonbenzos can be habit forming, says sleep doctor Shelby Freedman Harris, Psy.D., director of behavioral sleep medicine at Montefiore Medical Center's Sleep-Wake Disorders Center in New York City. For one thing, some sleep drugs are addictive, especially older ones such as benzodiazepines.
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RELATED: 8 things we learned from a sleep expert about putting kids to bedĪll this pill popping has ushered in a new set of problems. Sleep is so important, in fact, that some doctors consider how much you get to be a vital sign, on par with body temperature and blood pressure, said Lankford.
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Sleep is critical for overall health, said Maas, "and people are starting to realize it's a necessity, not a luxury." As you snooze, your body repairs errant cells, builds bone and muscle, consolidates memories and stores up energy for the days, weeks and years ahead. RELATED: How much sleep do teens really need? A wake-up call for your healthĪ solid third of your life should be spent in slumber, and not just so you can recover from those happy hours gone wild. "But today's desk-bound woman, even one who regularly hits the gym, still doesn't get the exercise her body was built for, and ample exercise is crucial for good sleep." "Women evolved to be physically active from morning to night," said Westbrook. This might not be such a big deal if we got off our butts more often. So fiddling with your iPad or watching Jimmy Fallon within an hour of bedtime signals your brain to stay alert - and awake. "Any kind of caffeine, even the small amounts in hot chocolate and candy bars, can impair your sleep if ingested after 2 p.m.," said James Maas, Ph.D., coauthor of Sleep for Success! Everything You Must Know About Sleep But Are Too Tired to Ask.Īrtificial blue light from a television or computer is another powerful mental stimulant that blocks production of the sleep hormone melatonin. Thanks to our coffee culture, people tend to suck down jolts of energy well into the afternoon. RELATED: Nap time! Researchers say sleeping twice a day is good for youĪlso contributing to sleepless nights is a genuinely modern double threat: overactive minds and underactive bodies.