Sleep is one of our greatest gifts. During sleep we clear, rebuild, refresh and repair our bodies. It is essential to enable us to function and truly enjoy life. When you’re not getting enough sleep, if your sleep isn’t as restful as you’d like or if you are plagued by insomnia a sleeping pill seems like the best answer. Is it really though?
Sleeping tablets perpetuate a vicious cycle of dependence. Each time you take a sleeping pill you’re continuing the spiral of need and preventing your body from regulating itself. Let’s consider a typical example. You have a rough day at work and you lie in bed tossing and turning unable to quieten your mind. The next morning you vow that if you don’t sleep well you’ll have to take a sleeping pill – but only this once. So the next night, the same thing happens and you take the pill only to find that you wake up groggy, fatigued and low. As the next evening approaches you find yourself wired, agitated and tossing and turning. ‘Just this once’ you say to yourself. ‘I have a meeting and really need the sleep.’ And so the cycle begins.
Perhaps it would be better if you considered looking at what was causing you to have the insomnia in the first place. Maybe you drank to much caffeine throughout the day over-stimulating your body? Maybe you overworked your mind at work, sat in front of the TV when you got home and never ‘moved’ your body. A simple walk at night can clear your head really well. Perhaps you’ve been overstimulated with florescent lights, iPods, laptops,/computers, mobiles and others – the list is endless. All of these stimulating gadgets do just that – they stop us from switching off. Sometimes a simple relaxation exercise, a warm bath before bed or even a cup of chamomile tea just sitting and letting it all go is enough to help you sleep. If not, see a professional and look at options but don’t resort to the pill cycle. It’s just not worth it.
