Dear Readers,

A.B, 50, a professional from Shortwood, Kingston 8, says during the past year she has found it progressively more difficult to obtain a good night's rest. She says sometimes she is still awake up to 4 a.m. She reads, watches television or just lies awake. However, later on in the working day, she experiences headaches and drowsiness and is unable to concentrate on her work. She may nap in the day but she still doesn't sleep. A.B acknowledges that she feels at a crossroads in her life at this time with changing commitment to her children who are away from home studying, stress and conflicts at the workplace, worries about her self-image and a feeling that her role in life is changing. She asks Lifeline to suggest methods to enhance her ability to obtain a good night's sleep.

milestone

Turning 50 is a difficult time for some people, male or female. It is a 'golden' milestone which when attained, often brings home to the person a strong realisation that "time is passing by" leading to further thoughts of "what have I achieved?" It is also a time when children leave home for college, work or to get married and the individuals become more aware of their changing status and the need to accommodate retirement plans. For some women, it is also the time of menopause. It is certainly a time fraught with stress and change for many people.

Insomnia is one symptom which can occur as a result of life stress. It refers to the inability to sleep and often occurs due to stress, an irregular work schedule or too much consumption of caffeine containing products such as coffee and colas and other products, e.g. alcohol, near to bedtime. Deficiencies of some vitamins and minerals can also contribute to insomnia as well as certain hypermetabolic diseases such as thyrotoxicosis. It not only affects economic productivity but is also a real danger to safety and health. Several different types of medication are useful in promoting sleep. Most of them cause drowsiness.

Some medications are:

Antihistamines (especially the older ones) such as Benadryl, or Dramamine or Phenergan which although used to treat allergies also cause significant drowsiness.

Tranqulisers eg. Valium, Frusium, Artivan, Xanax, Flurazepam, Restoril. These drugs are often effective but can be addictive if use is prolonged beyond a few weeks.

Ambien, Imovaine, and Dormicum are prescribed sleeping tablets with less side effects.

Antidepressants, such as Amitryptyline are also used to promote sleep, especially when the sleep problems are related to depression.

In addition:

Avoid taking stimulants such as foods and beverages containing caffeine, refined sugars or chocolate near bedtime.

Avoid alcohol within two hours of bedtime.

Avoid eating or exercising for three hours before bedtime as both these activities enhance the metabolism resulting in wakefulness.

Foods such as bananas, fish, milk, peanuts and cheese are high in Tryptophan which produces serotonin, a sleep regulator. These are good to ingest.

Calcium and magnesium are helpful to prevent insomnia while iron deficiency can result in disturbed sleep at night.

Herbal products

A number of herbal products are also available through GNLD, Symmetry and Herbal Life which augment sleep. Products containing chamomile, valerian and passion flower are good sleep inducers.

A hot bath at bedtime and a comfortable mattress and pillow will also help to produce sound sleep.

In addition, try to practise regular hours to go to sleep and to get up. Also, listening to soothing music at bedtime helps some individuals to fall asleep. People who perform shift work need to be particularly careful at the end of a night shift to readjust to daylight functioning. When a night shift ends the person should sleep for only a few hours the following day, rising before noon to participate in daylight activities before going back to bed during the night.

There are also sleep labatories which help to determine why abnormal sleep occurs in difficult cases. Access to such a lab in Jamaica would be through a family physician or specialist neurologist.

There are also some health problems such as hyperthyroid function which can contribute to sleep disturbance so a check-up and lab investigations at the doctor is also highly recommended.

Write to Lifeline

P.O. Box 1731

Kingston 8