Once in a "blue moon" (as my mother used to say) not sleeping is no reason for alarm. In the world today there are literally thousands of external stressors that will cause an occasional bout of acute insomnia. These stressors won't always lead you to a bad case of depression and insomnia. On that occasional sleepless night, you are best served by simply using the awake time to catch up on some reading, watch a good movie, and otherwise not concern yourself that you'll never sleep again.

It's only when insomnia turns chronic and habitual that we have to look at the underlying causes, to try and find a solution that helps. And by helping to solve the problem without hurting us in some way we must look to natural remedies first, otherwise our treatments can result in having a reverse of their intended effect. Certain medications for example, such as over the counter and prescription sleeping pills, can hinder our body's own natural ability to affect sleep and therefor they should be considered as only a last resort, and most importantly, only as a short term solution. Being dependent on prescription sleep aids is not a good road to travel.

I'm always on the hunt for solutions that do not involve drugs or other harmful treatments but that statement comes with this disclaimer: I'm not a tree hugging, psychedelic alternative medicine guru wannabe. Not in the least. Dwelling on finding natural solutions comes only from seeing the research and thus knowing that they are highly effective - sometimes more so than their pharmacological counterparts. Just so we're all clear, prescription sleep aids truly do have their place in treating insomnia. By applying natural insomnia cures as a first response, we are allowing our body a chance to prove it can cure itself. As a rule, attempting the least invasive approach first is just good common sense.

How Does Insomnia Lead To Depression?

The interesting thing about natural sleep disorder treatments is that many also come highly recommended as effective treatments for depression. Knowing this, we can make a logical mental leap that it's not just the treatments that co-relate, but the disorders themselves. In people suffering depression, there is a significantly lower level of serotonin level in the body. Since serotonin is so crucially important to regulating moods and the body's sleep cycle, it's fairly obvious why having a decreased serotonin production will lead to increased instances of depression. In my last post (Depression and Insomnia Like Each Other, A Lot) I outlined how decreased serotonin and depression leads to insomnia, but just as importantly, chronic insomnia can lead to a decrease in serotonin - which can end in a depressed state.

To be frank however, this is a "chicken and egg" question. Which disorder causes which is rather a redundant path to scrutinize. However there are a few factors to understand when looking at how insomnia can be the cause, not the symptom, of depression. Here's a few obvious reasons:

• being overtired leads to being less effective at problem solving. Over time a negative reaction can lead to depressive disorders.
• Fatigue makes it difficult to cope with many stressful situations, leading to depression.
• Extreme fatigue leads to feelings of hopelessness, sadness, and an inability to control emotional responses. This obviously will lead to depression when left unchecked.

As I've eluded before, treating depression with SSRI medications (such as Prozac and the like) can help reduce insomnia a great deal. But there is also a strong case for how treating insomnia with various natural sleep disorder treatments (like Sleep Tracks) can significantly reduce cases of depression. The two conditions are so closely related that treating one will normally have positive benefits on the other.

If you're feeling like you have a case of the blues, and that it may have something to do with your inability to sleep, I highly recommend a combination of both the Sleep Tracks program and getting to your GP for a prescription SSRI. Neither are dangerous, neither are addictive, and using both in concert is a very effective weapon against both depression and insomnia.

Depression and insomnia go hand in hand. While it may be a common assumption that depressed people sleep a lot, in at least as many cases of depression a significant lack of sleep is noted. As a result, chronic insomnia is often a symptom of deeper rooted depressive disorders, and when looking into causes for insomnia, doctors will often closely examine a patients current state of mind. If depression is successfully diagnosed, in many instances insomnia will be the result of that depression.

This is why, in some cases, when people seek out a doctor to help with insomnia they are prescribed an SSRI tablet as a treatment option. In cases of chronic insomnia coupled with depression, it is very common to be provided with a short term dose of popular sleep medications as well as the longer term SSRI meds. This is done because an SSRI takes time, sometimes up to 2 weeks to be effective at inhibiting seratonin re-absorption. A sleeping pill is used to allow for proper rest until the SSRI is up to speed in your system. I'll get into that a little more later on, but if you were treated for insomnia with a prescription sleeping med as well as an SSRI such as Prozac, e.t.c... don't panic, your doctor knows what he's on about.

Depression is normally treated with the ever popular Paxil, Zoloft, Prozac, e.t.c... which are all SSRI derivatives (Selective Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitors). As I eluded, these medications work to stop Seratonin from being reabsorbed back into the nerve cells of your brain. It useful to know what seratonin is, for the purpose of understanding how suh a deficiency can cause insomnia.

What Is Seratonin?
Seratonin is a neurotransmitter that produces what we often think of as the "happy" feeling. It is the neurotransmitter that most regulates moods within a functioning, normal brain. Melatonin - the hormone our body produces to reguate sleep patterns is made from seratonin - so to speak - in that it is not uncommon to see an increase in melatonin production of up to 48%, when tied to SSRI medication use. So, following this particular rabbit hole, we can see where the logical path ends. This is why many people prescribed an SSRI will comment on how their sleep cycles become more regular while on the medication.

What is perhaps less widely known is that seratonin is produced from tryptophan, and therefore not a direct result of brain activity, persay. Tryptophan is produced via food digestion and metabolizing, so it stands to reason that when your digestion is not working properly, you will not be producing the right amounts of tryptophan - and as a result - seratonin. Properly digesting proteins and amino acids breaks down tryptophan into seratonin, and when the digestive tract is unhealthy or diseased, this will cause problems such as insomnia and depression.

Most general practitioners may miss this important fact when prescribing your sleep meds and SSRI meds, overlooking a potentially serious situation. Doctors that are well versed in SSRI pathology are known to look directly at your digestive system to be sure there is no lingering issues there that could cause a mal-absorption of your nutrients.

If the root cause of the problem of depression and insomnia is the digestive system, then it only makes sense to look after this issue. Having a proper diagnostic procedure(s) done to determine your digestive health is paramount. Having said that, it is always wise to use what you can for the short term, but not at the expense of finding the core of the problem. In more cases than are widely known, depression is often traced back to a problem with your nutrition and/or digestive system's ability to metabolize foods - foods that provide the building blocks for every neurotransmitter that your cells and brain needs to properly function.

Should you be considering the possibility that your insomnia and depression are co-related, they very well may be. And the answer is not always within the pharmacy walls. You should first ask yourself if the following symptoms affects you on a regular basis:

• indigestion/ heartburn
• frequent gas/ wind
  
• Constipation
• Chronic/ constant diarrhea

Any of these symptoms - in any combination - on a chronic (recurring) basis, can be the root cause of your depression and insomnia. Now I certainly would never promote NOT taking a prescription for depression, as in the short term it will be something you likely require to feel better and get some proper rest. However, dealing with the issues of proper digestion are likely the single most important factor in maintaining a healthy body, so with that in mind, don't hesitate to get a proper check up to be assured you are not suffering from a hidden chronic digestion issue.

Now you know that depression and insomnia are close cousins in the family of rotten conditions we can encounter, so it's very important to note that one leads to the other. In some cases, which I will detail in future articles, insomnia is the root cause of depressive disorders. This is an entirely different beast of course, mutually exclusive of the above details. God never makes things simple it would seem. :)

Insomnia, acute or chronic, has many allies, contributing conditions that cause us to suffer greatly in the quest for proper rest. Caffeine, alcohol, artificially bright lights after 3pm, they are all culprits. An under-active pineal gland, due to any number of reasons, can cause a lack in the body's melatonin production - yet another very common culprit for a bout of insomnia.

Then comes the environmental causes. Babies crying, a loud neighbor or neighborhood, an unfamiliar surrounding - such as a hotel room, the cottage, or a friends couch. Even a ticking clock can become annoying enough to interrupt a good night's sleep to an insomniac.

The causes are great and many. But one that is seldom explored is a rare condition that can be hell for a person, or at least their spouse and/or sleeping partner.

Restless Leg Syndrome

RLS, also known as Wittmaack-Ekbom's syndrome, is an irresistible and uncontrollable urge to twitch and move - sometimes violently - in order to stop uncomfortable or peculiar sensations. People who suffer this condition describe it as having the extremities feel itchy, and/or they feel a burning sensation which is temporarily relieved by sudden twitches and movement. Although it most commonly begins as middle age sets in (40 - 50 years of age) it has been documented in infants all the way up to young adults.

The condition of restless leg syndrome has been shown to be most common in people with an iron deficiency. Such a deficiency can account for 1/5th of certain clinically scrutinized RLS cases. There are other conditions that both exacerbate and co-relate with this problem, things like diabetes, thyroid disease, magnesium deficiency, poor vascular consistency, e.t.c... and as such, a proper diagnosis is required to rule out the many possible physiological causes.

If you suffer from this condition, you may gloss over it by making jokes, or maybe your partner has poked fun at how you "chase rabbits" in your sleep. Quite simply, it is no laughing matter, and not a small problem. Rare yes, small no. Firstly there are no known preventative measures. Secondly, once all other potential contributing causes are ruled out, RLS treatment is an expensive and long term proposal that - using drug therapy - has known, serious side effects (like nausea, dizziness, hallucinations). In fact, drug therapy treatment should be only considered as a last ditch effort, and only if the condition is becoming violent and potentially dangerous to you or your sleeping partner.

If you believe you have RLS, or perhaps your partner has let you know that you've kicked or punched out in your sleep, my best advice is to immediately see a doctor and schedule a polysomnogram - as well as a full medical/blood work up. However, to combat the problem immediately you may try an additional iron supplement, or do your best to get more iron in your diet through your nutritional intake. Additionally you may need extra magnesium, available in supplement form or by eating foods rich in these vitamins and minerals.

One other thing you can try is to stretch, either just before bed time, or at the onset of an attack. If an onset of RLS wakes you, simply stand up and stretch by touching your toes. Complete a cycle of 5 stretches, held for 20 seconds each time. This has been known to significantly reduce the severity of RLS in some patients.

There Is Hope

According to wikipedia... "a non-drug musculoskeletal approach has been developed by a small group of doctors working at the London College of Osteopathic Medicine, London, UK and appears to produce relief of symptoms in 80–90% of patients." So it is good to know someone, somewhere, is on the case. I can't comment on the approach yet - since this is ongoing research - but I have put in more than a few phone calls and emails. I will certainly report back with any new and pertinent info.

In the meantime, don't panic, restless leg syndrome is not going to kill you, (although your spouse may try to beat you senseless if you are kicking them in their sleep:)). In all seriousness, if you are showing any signs of RLS, be sure to act promptly and do not ignore it like one can ignore the occasional sleepless night. Here's some things you can do right away:

• Have a blood work up to see if you have proper iron and magnesium.
  
• Try iron and/or magnesium supplements if you can't change your diet or get to a doctor in a hurry.
  
• Make sure to limber up before you sleep by stretching and loosening up.
  

If these weapons don't work to combat your issue, it may be time to get a proper sleep study done (polysomnogram) wherein a doctor can assess the severity of your problem, and even potentially rule it out as nothing more than bad dreams.

One thing I cannot stress enough. Only in the worst and most extreme cases should you seek out drug therapy for RLS, because of both the expense (100-150.00 per month, for life!), and the potential side effects. Regular readers know that I always try and preach a non pharmaceutical approach to insomnia cures. In cases of non-RLS related insomnia, that is just my hope that you can help yourself and avoid certain dependency issues. However RLS drug therapy is an entirely different beast. There are far more serious side effects associated with RLS drugs. Just be aware, and be extra cautious.

Now, stretch your legs, relax with some valerian root tea, and get some sleep!!!

First off, if you're having trouble sleeping right now and need help, click the links below for some immediate solutions.

Life Sign Sleep Key

Sleep Tracks White Noise Therapy

Ambiatol

Magnetic Therapy Sleep Pad

Apollo Blue Light Therapy

If you're still reading, I thought I would take the time in this post to further help wrap our minds around insomnia. You see, contrary to popular belief, insomnia is a symptom, not a disease. It usually occurs in relation to a variety of medical, psychiatric and physiological disorders. Complaining of insomnia usually means you are upset by the following:

• difficulty falling asleep

• sleeping too lightly

• having multiple spontaneous awakenings

• early awakenings with an inability to fall back to sleep

It is important to assess the timing of insomnia in order to determine its' cause and origin. When you suffer from persistent sleeplessness it is crucial to define exactly how the condition is effecting you, being as specific as possible. This is why it is very important that each patient defines to the best of their ability what he or she means by the term “insomnia”.

Research has found that patients with insomnia show a variety of consistent features. They are more likely to have:

• higher rate of depression and depressive and/or anxiety issues

• longer daytime sleep latency (unable to rest during the day)

• an increased 24 hour metabolic rate

• more night to night variability in their sleep (irregular sleeping patterns)

How Do We Get Insomnia?

Experts believe that there are three main factors that will cause sustained sleeplessness. These are what we call the three P's

1. The Predisposed personality, sometimes including people with a higher than normal rate of neural activity. This can include any combination of the following personality traits:

• anxious

• pessimistic

• emotional hyper-activity

• general stress or tension.

2. A Preceding event, or an event(s) that is outside of the person's control that is the cause of sleep problems. These events are usually easy to spot as changes in our routines caused by anything from a family conflict to surviving an earthquake. Such preceding events could easily include:

• work stress

• financial stress

• health problems

• death in the family

• surviving disaster situations (earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, e.t.c...)

• shift work

• *melatonin deficiency

3. The Perpetual practicing insomniac. If you look back at my previous post regarding the condition of somniphobia, you can note from that analysis that a perpetuating insomniac can fall under the category of somniphobe. It develops as a response to sleeplessness, but inevitably ends in prolonging the condition by developing series of thoughts and fears about the insomnia, wherein the subject can “talk” themselves out of a quality rest. Traits of a perpetuating insomniac can include:

• sleeping too early

• staying in bed late

• caffeine

• reactions to sleep medications

• excessive worrying over sleep

• daytime napping

So What Can We Do?

As mentioned at the beginning of the article, if you find yourself relating to any of the above criteria, there are certain sleep systems that are available without prescription that can significantly help to combat the problem. Sleep Tracks or Light Therapy will normally help the perpetuating insomniac by allowing a calm, soothing environment. (click the links to examine the systems) Melatonin hybrid preparations like Ambiatol can assist those who have a specific predisposition to insomnia (as eluded to in this post).

Those that find themselves with insomnia due to a preceding event should also use things such as sleeping pads and even a sleep computer to at least have weapons in the battle. However if the conditions of a preceding event are due to a specific traumatic event, it is extremely wise to seek out a diagnosis of emotional health, since PTSD (Post Trauma Stress Disorder) must be ruled out. A combination of therapy and anti-depressant medications will certainly help immensely in dealing with PTSD.

This article was meant to list the variables associated with insomnia, and to provide some natural insomnia cures to assist you in getting a proper rest. It is always most wise to consult a proper sleep clinic with concerns as they become more and more persistent, but in some cases, the products and systems I've listed above can help significantly. You can click on any of the systems to order or examine. I'll end by saying the same thing I've said many times within this site, it is always best to try non-intrusive therapies before resorting to medications.

Get some rest!

Most of the masses suffering from sleeping disorders like insomnia are not always ready to take the plunge and get a prescription sleeping aid, either due to the many side effects (outlined in this post), or because they have understated the problem. People often trick themselves into believing insomnia is a condition that can be handled "on their own", using insomnia cures such as warm milk or a hot bath. By doing so they are ignoring that the problem may be a simple physiological issue, and therefore completely beyond their control.

There is one hormone, melatonin, that is naturally produced within our bodies to trigger the sleep cycle. It occurs according to our body clock - or circadian rhythm - and is triggered by the fading daily light. With technology now allowing us to prepare synthetic versions of this hormone, we can now self-administer melatonin to make use of its' many health benefits. Conveniently for this article, one of the health benefits is it's known curative quality for insomnia.

Melatonin is said to have anti aging benefits, and it has also been touted as one of the most powerful non-narcotic solution for fighting against depression and anxiety. These surprising benefits are not endorsed by many medical organizations, due to a limited base of study. Having said that, anything is worth trying once or twice before going down the road to pharmaceuticals. So if you are wondering whether or not melatonin can help you fall asleep, let me do my best to show you how to get the most bang for your buck.

Taking Melatonin

When it comes to taking melatonin you need to be sure that you don’t overdo it, or you will interfere with the body’s own ability to create it. 1 to 3 mg is an optimum dosage, administering every second sleepless night. If you take too much for too long, your body is tricked into believing that melatonin is already in your system, and will shut down its' own natural production. Doctors normally recommend not to ever exceed 5mg of melatonin for more than one dosage, so that your naturally producing melatonin can stay regulated without interruption.

Why Is My Body Not Producing Melatonin?

As I eluded to before, melatonin begins production as light fades, during the normal sleep/wake cycle. The circadian rhythm is roughly a 24 hour cycle, wherein most of our physiological functions complete their daily routines, according to a natural rhythm. This cycle is not exclusive to us. Plants, animals, and even micro-organisms have a natural rhythmic cycle. Having said that, you may wonder why we sometimes fail to produce something that seems as natural as blinking. Outlined below are just a few of the reasons why this happens:

• Exposure to an unnatural level of artificial light.
  
• Using a sun tanning bed after 3pm.
  
• Bright night time activities - such as clubbing, concerts, sports games, e.t.c...
• Night lights, TV's, even low level lamps, when trying to sleep, can have a surprisingly negative effect on your body clock.
• Shift work.
  

In order to combat this attack on your hormones and get a good night's rest, artificially increasing your melatonin with preparations like Alteril or Melatonex (click the links to purchase) can help normalize your production to a standard level, thus regulating your sleeping cycles and patterns. A normalized sleep/wake cycle can go along way to alleviate insomnia symptoms.

Although I mentioned that there is no standardized tests to prove melatonins' worth, in my experience it is a remarkably efficient insomnia cure - in certain cases. In fact there are times when it can seem like a miracle cure, due to it's obvious targeted nature. I can't impress upon you enough to at least try it first as a possible treatment, before rushing to the GP for a prescription solution. It may be that all you need is to normalize your hormones and not ever succumb to the potential dangers and side effects of pharmaceuticals.

Sleeping disorders are more and more common in today's adult population. For complex reasons such as long working hours, and other economic stresses, it is now estimated that almost 25% of the adult population suffers some kind of sleeping difficulty. Slumber issues without the necessary insomnia cures can wreak havoc on a person's life by making them visibly irritable at work, by not allowing their body a chance to revitalize itself, and by making it increasingly harder to stay alert during the day - especially when driving long distances or performing otherwise complex and potentially dangerous tasks.

As pharmacological treatments evolve, people now turn to prescription sleeping aids as a quick "get it and forget it" fix to assist them in getting the sleep they need. Taken correctly and as prescribed, there is no reason to believe they can’t be extremely beneficial to you. Taken habitually however, or over-medicating from the prescribed dosage, these medications can have extremely hazardous side effects that can enhance the insomnia, instead of providing relief. Below you will find a comparison between the risks and benefits of prescription sleeping aids so that you can be well informed and well armed before heading off to your doctor.

The Benefits of Sleeping Aids

For starters you need to understand that sleeping pills are not bad. They are not spawned from the lab of some evil corporation, and they do not necessarily cause you to become a drooling, addicted mess. They also do not - necessarily - cause hangover-like symptoms, which is a very common complaint. Having said that, they can be all of that and more, when not used correctly. The truth is that prescription sleeping pills have helped millions of American every year who suffer from sleeping disorders, such as transient and chronic insomnia. It is a multi-million dollar a year business because they are an effective - but temporary - relief.

Sleep inducing meds are used to slow down the neurological activity in your brain, enabling you to fall asleep much easier then you would naturally. They depress the central nervous system which inevitably causes the sleepy feelings to take hold and facilitate unconsciousness. It is said that with people with strong neural activity routinely find it harder to fall away to slumber, some regularly complaining of chronic bouts of insomnia. Sleeping pills are extremely effective at slowing down this neural activity - thus inducing sleep.

When you’re taking sleep medications you are most likely to fall asleep, in most cases, within 15 to 30 minutes - with the added benefit of preventing frequent awakenings during the night. These awakenings exist as a form of insomnia in and of itself, and the condition can be just as frustrating as the initial onset of insomnia. This is normally because it is harder to get back to sleep after waking abruptly. Having said that, sometimes frequent awakenings are a result of other medical conditions, such as sleep apnea, and worth a proper diagnosis.

The Risks of Sleeping Pills

As effective as these medications can be, they still come with side effects. It's a virtual guarantee that over time your body will begin to build a tolerance to them, leaving you to require consistently higher dosages to get the same result you experienced from the initial administration.

One psychological component of dependency to sleep medication is that you begin to feel it's impossible to sleep without the drug. This is based within the physiology of the drug's co-relation to your ever increasing tolerance. At this point the exacerbated condition becomes "hyper insomnia", and will continue until your body has successfully weaned from the medication.

In effect, by treating the symptom of insomnia and not the cause of said condition, you will have become more and more dependent on an increasingly less effective drug. This is why treating insomnia with prescription pills is normally used as strictly a short term solution (between 3 and 5 days). The insomnia itself must be investigated with other diagnostic methods (such as a polysomnogram/ sleep study), for more healthy and appropriate treatments to begin.

Weaning from a dependence to sleeping pills can also cause feelings of depression, along with the aforementioned hyper insomnia. These medications were never meant to be taken long term, except in the most egregious cases, because the metabolism of the brain becomes less responsive to the effects, very quickly. The other withdrawal symptoms range from dry mouth, increased daytime drowsiness, and nausea. There are certain drugs now in development, that are said to have no quantifiable dependence/abuse side effects. One such medication is already on the market and is branded as Lunesta, otherwise known as Eszopiclone. While this new treatment shows promise, it's effectiveness and corresponding side effects are still being studied.

As you can see, prescription sleeping pills can be of great benefit to you - for short term treatment, or they can cause you more trouble then they are worth - if you don’t have the discipline to use them as directed. Visit Insomnia Cures if you feel like you need more information on sleeping pills, or for any questions or comments about the horrible condition of insomnia. Remember, your ultimate goal should be to become completely independent from prescription drugs, thus tackling the condition and not the symptom.

RIP Michael. You will be missed.