Today, we take a short detour and discuss natural sleep aids for one specific group of insomniacs – children.

Insomnia is less commonly  found among children than adults, but it remains an existent condition nonetheless. As such, it remains an important topic in which we will broach today.

We discuss 6 natural sleep aids commonly prescribed for children:

1. Melatonin
   Melatonin is a natural hormone found inside the body that regulates our sleep wake cycle. For some children, especially among those who have physical or mental disabilities, melatonin production doesn’t come easily, so if you’re a parent, you can provide small dosages of melatonin to make up for that natural deficiency. It’s been proven to help children sleep longer and sleep deeper, as it improves REM sleepon the whole.As a general rule of thumb, though I will say here and for the other supplements we discuss here that you should always consult a physician for counsel when it comes to deciding on the exact amounts of the prescribed supplements, the dosage you give to your children should not exceed 3 mg.It should also be noted that while there have been clinical studies performed on melatonin taken by children and their sleep quality afterwards, sleep doctors and pharmacists generally recommend against children under 10 to take melatonin as the results typically vary among children.

   Seek to avoid natural forms of melatonin derived from animals’ pineal glands, they have a chance of being contaminated.

2. Chamomile
   Chamomile is a natural herb that has been used for centuries to help with sleep. It’s also one of the gentlest! By ‘gentle’, I mean that children accept this form  of supplement more readily than others because it’s naturally sweet, making it pleasant to swallow.Usually, it’s taken in the form of tea, but it’s also available in capsule or tincture form. I’ve heard many parents recommend taking chamomile with apple juice – it’s a favorite drink among kids, so I’d heartily recommend it here as well.The great thing about chamomile is that it’s completely safe both for adults and children, so if you ever need a swag of natural sleep remedies, feel free to make yourself a cup of chamomile tea!One thing to caution against is the use of chamomile in conjunction with other drug therapies. If your children is on medication for other medical conditions, it’s usually prudent to check with your family doctor before taking chamomile tea.

   That said, though, it’s easily one of the safest supplements to take, this includes a target audience for toddlers under the age of three, so enjoy your cup of tea!

3. Valerian
   Valerian is the next supplement that we introduce here.As an OTC drug, it’s also one of the 3 most popular drugs recommended for children who have insomnia.Generally, it’s believed that the active ingredient in valerian helps reduce the time needed to fall asleep, as well as improving your general sleep quality (an effective increase in time spent in REM sleep). This is especially useful if your children is suffering from insomnia due to muscle tension and anxiety.As with all other supplements, do take this sparingly in small dosages because of its possible side effects such as headaches, nausea, dizziness and even a weakened heartbeat.One thing you might want to do if you do choose valerian as a supplement for your children is to mix it in with hot chocolate or some sweetener because as a natural herb, it’s bitter, and might be difficult for young kids to intake.

4. Lemon Balm
   Generally, lemon balm helps induce sleep, ease nervousness and protects gastrointestinal tracts against ulcers, as as you can guess, is commonly ingested as tea.It’s commonly used with valerian, and a recommended dosage is 160 mg of valerian and 80 mg of lemon balm.

5. Passion Flower
   
   In it are compounds such as harmine which help break down serotonin, which is especially helpful if insomnia is caused by chronic pains and muscle tension. It’s usually taken as tea, or in capsule or tincture forms.

6. Warm Milk
   Of course, there’s always good ol’ milk!As to how it relates to the picture, it contains trace amounts of melatonin and tryptophan, which is an amino acid which induces sleep.

So, here they are! The 6 “ingredients” we commonly associate with sleep supplements recommended for children.

But as with anything else, please don’t forget to take the following factors into consideration:

1. Age restrictions with using a supplement.
2. Allergies (active ingredients in labels)
3. Dosage
4. Side effects (which should be minimized if you’ve ascertained the recommended dosage)The best of luck in curing your children of insomnia!

Here’s a quick checklist for you – the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research and Office of Prevention, Education and Control defines insomnia as insomniacs experiencing one or more of the following:

1. Difficulty falling asleep
2. Difficulty maintaining sleep
3. Waking up too early in the morning
4. Non-refreshing sleep at night

The four most prevalent daytime consequences among insomniacs are also listed as follows:

1. General tiredness
2. Difficulty concentrating
3. Irritability

If you are an insomniac, which one of the four symptoms do you experience most?

I look forward to hearing from you! Leave a comment below and tell me what you think.

Okay, this isn’t as much a classification of insomnia as it is understanding the taxonomy of the branch of science related to sleep disorders, which is properly known as somnipathy.

As you know, insomnia is hardly the only sleep disorder out there, there are many other conditions which are related to sleep, but which have nothing to do with insomnia, which is usually a general display of sleep deprivation, ranging from mild to severe.

I’ll briefly list the most common disorders as to provide a quick glance at somnipathy.

1. Sleep apnea: Obstruction of the airways causing periods of not breathing during the night.
2. Night terror: Suddenly awake from sleep showing similar signs of a real terror, like wide opened eyes, profuse sweating, hence the name.
3. Restless leg syndrome: Inability to resist the urge to move legs.
4. Cataplexy: A sudden weakness in muscles, resulting in a sudden collapse on the floor.
5. Delayed sleep phase syndrome: Inability to sleep at ‘socially acceptable’ times, but otherwise able to get normal sleep.
6. Bruxism: More familiarly, teeth grinding at night.

Here are just the more common ones you’ll probably hear about from time to time, there are many more disorders out there.

While this blog isn’t about sleep disorders, we will include posts later on in the future to cover these areas.

To continue our discussion from our last post, the second way to classify insomnia is through its inherent nature. Here’s the three classifications of it:

1. Primary: Where insomnia exists standalone.
2. Secondary: Where insomnia is caused by another condition, physiological or psychological.
3. Co-morbid: Where insomnia co-exists with another medical condition.

In the previous posts, and perhaps in the ‘Insomnia in a box’ guide, I stressed the importance of understanding the underlying causes of your specific case of insomnia precisely because of this approach to classify insomnia – often, most people suffer from the secondary insomnia – sleeplessness caused by another condition!

By removing the root of the cause, you’ll effectively decimate insomnia from your existence. However, there are several factors which complicate this process, and we go into great lengths in discussing this in the ‘Insomnia in a box’ guide, so you’ll know exactly what it is that you need to locate those underlying factors behind your insomnia.

Next time, we talk about the larger branch of medical science to which insomnia belongs, and discuss some of the more confusing aspects of sleep in general.

The first way medical practitioners classify insomnia is through time – specifically, how long an insomniac has been suffering from the condition.

There are three specifications of insomnia in this respect:

1. Transient: Lasts less than a week. Acute insomnia usually causes symptoms similar slowed reaction time and general sleepiness.
2. Acute: Lasts between a week and a month. Consequences similar to transient insomnia, but more exacerbated in its form.
3. Chronic: Lasts for more than a month. Consequences include muscular fatigue, hallucinations, seeing things in slow motion and possibly double vision in severe cases. Of course, for long term chronic sufferers, the list extends to depression, impaired motor function, and a heightened sense of disorientation.

As you can see here, this is one of the many reasons why we say that the medical community doesn’t pay enough attention to insomnia.

While I don’t pretend to have meet thousands of insomniacs, I have gathered enough information in the past to determine that the two most common types of insomnia can be summed up in two types:

1. Recurrent bouts of transient insomnia
2. Long term chronic insomnia, where a insomniac would typically suffer for periods a lot longer than a month, as I’m sure you’ll know.

And those aren’t listed in the technical definitions of insomnia.

Just some food for thought.

There are many ways to classify insomnia, and the proceeding posts will talk about specific classifications, as well as types of insomnia, which will be paramount to your understanding of the condition itself.

Specifically, we go into great depths to discuss two types of classification – classifying by time and by its inherent nature.

After expending our energies into understanding some common treatments to cure insomnia, I thought it’d be nice to step back some time, and go back to square zero to have a better perspective on what we’re dealing with hear – understanding the ins and outs of insomnia.

However, I do know that as a loyal reader of this blog, you’re probably not here to find out what this condition is about, but searching on what to do about it.

Therefore, I’ll do multiple updates in a relatively short amount of time on this topic, just so that you know that this information is existent on this blog, should you need to refer to it, but also such that it doesn’t take up the spaces of important posts which we’ll use to expand on exploring even more esoteric solutions that will add to your repository of tools to combat insomnia.

With that said, here’s the first post on the classification systems of insomnia – giving you a bird’s eye view to where you fit in.

Here’s I bit of insight I got while reading the news this morning.

Pope Benedict XVI reached out to Guanajuato in Mexico on Saturday, telling the children in this violence-prone city to be messengers of peace. Here’s what he said to them, “”The disciple of Jesus does not respond to evil with evil, but is always an instrument of good instead, a herald of pardon, a bearer of happiness, a servant of unity,” Benedict said. “I will pray for all of you, so that Mexico may be a place in which everyone can live in serenity and harmony.”

Fighting evil with evil.

Isn’t that what we should aim to avoid?

In the previous post, if you’ll remember, Dr. Kripke did a presentation on the adverse effects on sleeping pills and how it usually does more harm than to benefit the person. If you haven’t watched it yet, feel free to watch it here.

But if we think of it, aren’t we also “fighting evil with evil” by using benzo’s to counter insomnia?

If there’s one goal you should think of accomplishing above all else when it comes to insomnia, it should be to get off those meds completely and to get off your dependency on medications, and as you’ll know, there are numerous therapies available to help you fight insomnia and do exactly that.

How to get to sleep indeed?

Let’s rephrase that question a little better, and ask ourselves, ‘how not to get to sleep’?

Understanding all your available options will certainly take a considerable amount of time and effort.

But know that your efforts won’t be wasted…in the long term, not being reliant on benzo’s and other classes of drugs will bring you greater levels of happiness, joy and fulfillment.

Once in a while, you’ll find that I write posts like this one. It’s one of those times when you get reflective and ask yourself questions like, ‘What are the most important things in my life?’

Because I’ve set up this blog with the intention of sharing some information, tips, stories I’ve found about insomnia to help people overcome the condition, I really want to convey my concern at using drugs to help you resolve insomnia in the long term, because I can tell you right here and now – it’s not your one stop solution to the problem.

If nothing else, I hope that the moment will come upon you some time in the near future where you’ll be leading the type of lifestyle you know you deserve, and be able to kiss insomnia goodbye – for good!

There’s always been a bit of controversy flying around when it came to this: should I take pills or not?

I’ve never advocated against them, but their side effects are actually worse than what I’ve initially thought.

I’ve found a video of a presentation done a number of years back by Dr. Daniel Kripke, considered to be one of the leading experts and pioneers on insomnia treatments and research, having devoted over four decades of his life to it, on the effects on sleeping pills.

If you have time, please take a look at it, and see if you still fancy the idea of trying different prescription aids:

Enjoy the presentation and I hope you’ll learn a few things from Dr. Kripke, like I did!