The Insomniacs Amongst Us...

The western world is always fighting: fighting against depression, both economic and mental, fighting against injustice, racism, gender inequality, obesity, and now insomnia. A 2001 movie, `Prozac Nation’ poignantly captured the dilemma of teenagers, desperate to bring some kind of balance to their otherwise chaotic lives through potent drugs (25% of zero to seventeen-year-old of American Youth is either on anti-anxiety, or anti-psychiatric, or anti-depressant or ADHD drugs). In the same vein, an earlier movie, `You’ve got Mail’ brought to attention the world of insomniacs. And to think, that was only the beginning of cyberspace communication! Now, with people hustling to grab attention on social media, the world of cyber communication has taken up new dimensions. And, so has insomnia. Yes, believe it or not, the insomniacs’ guild has grown disproportionately in the last decade or so, owing not only to a demanding lifestyle, single parenting, workplace blues, but also to an individual’s need to keep up with social networking.

According to the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research, 34% of Australians experience episodes of insomnia at some point in their lives. On the other hand, Herbal Daily, an online magazine, states that approximately 25% of the adult population suffers from sleep disorder. Yet, another study conducted by the U.S. Institute of Sleep claims that people nowadays sleep 20% less than they did a hundred years ago. More than 30% of Americans are diagnosed with insomnia, and more than half of them lose sleep due to stress and anxiety. What’s more, approximately ten million people in the U.S. use prescription sleeping pills.

While the pharmaceutical companies are reaping in profits, insomnia is donning on the form of an epidemic. It is no wonder that one of the issues of the Time magazine came up with a list of hi-tech gadgets to help the `Sleepless in Seattle’ kind hit the hay. There is, for example, something called `Muse headband’, for $250, which trains the brain to cope with stress, and learn to relax. Smart earbuds are yet another device, available for $300 to drown out the sounds of one’s immediate environment, and envelope the insomniac in something called the `white noise’. Apple’s I-Phone too has a Night Shift feature to reduce the blue light, and have the display colours look warmer by contrast. Add a musical alarm to this feature, and you could be a step closer to developing a healthier sleeping pattern.

Some more traditional methods to induce sleep include a glass of warm milk, a homeopathic chamomile-based supplement called `Calms Forte’, or half a tea-spoon of magnesium in lukewarm water. If you are not averse to fowl smells, a supplement made with Valerian root has been used since medieval times to help the cause. A glass of beer/whisky, a common prescription to beat sleeplessness in the sixties has now taken a back seat due to its addictive properties.

I can’t help but smile as my mind races back to the construction site of our house some two years ago. I think of the laborers, snatching a power-nap, having their acupressure points pressed by a pile of pebbles, which served as their makeshift bed, and helped them switch to a `relax mode’. I wonder if hard physical labour and a pile of pebbles are ever going to make it to Time’s list.