Does sleep medication permanently damage your ability to sleep?
First I need to make clear I am not a doctor, or medical person of any kind. However I have tried many different sleep meds. And have given my two cents a few times here. This is one of the better questions that have been sent my way. I think any sleep medication has it's purpose. As I think every sleep deprivation is different for as many people. There are people that travel around the globe, and there are people that just work their ass off daily and one day seems to blend into the next. And whatever falls between the two. They all need sleep. And the dangers are there in every pill. For every one of the people that use OTC or prescribed medications. But to answer the question I can't, not with any certainty. Like I said I have tried many different sleep meds. The meds I take now, some make me sleepy, the other the opposite. And now I take so many I have no idea which is responsible for my crazy sleep cycle. I can say anyone using sleep meds for more than just a very short time should beware. You may find yourself thinking the meds are your only path to sleep. What you really should do is find out why you are not sleeping and fix that. And I think it way too easy to get stuck needing a medication mentally and many times physically. I don't think it, the drug, would permanently damage your ability to sleep. But the longer you are assisted by a med, I think it the harder it would be to return to a normal sleep pattern. Just my two cents worth. You all take care and have a good day.
Does sleeping with a TV on affect your REM sleep?
YES electrical appliances affects your electrical balance in your body and the amount of affection depends on the device and its proximity to you while you sleep. Everyone knows that your heart is governed by an electrical stimulus...the pacemaker. Well tvs give off static electricity, the cable box sends electrical signals to the tv and back and forth. Your computer in the off position still has electricity flowing through it. These things affect you its called electromagnetic chaos. Just to show how simple the effection can be...if you know anyone or if you have metal fillings in your mouth, take an aluminum gum wrapper or a piece of aluminum foil and stick it in your mouth and bite down on it a bit...you will feel a MEGA JOLT. Thats your bodys electrical current flowing. The reason why people can sleep with the TV on is because it takes there mind of the silence of thinking. When its quiet your mind is finally free of commotion and is able to relax and ponder. This frightens people because often times they feel they cant unwind. When you sleep or when your in bed, tell yourself you arent thinking of anything else tonight, but sleep...Keep repeating in your head good things and YOU WILL BE KNOCKED OUT. Your mind constantly and continuously transfers signals. You can be in REM but when something on the tv says something that signals a happy/sad/confused memory, your body will revert to those signals all over again. Kinda like if you are sleep, and a scary movie is on TV, you only hear it but you will be scared in your sleep and will quite possibly have a night mare or some other questionable and uneasy dream. To ensure complete recooperative sleep, you should have very little or no electronics in your room, nothing plugged into the wall. Battery operated are better, yet still give off chaos. Your body needs to not be bombarded with so many signals. If you have a window open in the winter, you will wake up in the middle of the night being cold...you were warm when you went to bed, and you werent awake before you woke up....same idea, different stress factor.
For the past week ive been taking echinacea. I havnt been able to sleep lately. Is this connected?
I tried looking for evidence searching on Google of echinacea affecting sleep but couldn't really come up with anything. Do herbal supplements sometimes affect sleeping patterns? It takes me forever to get to sleep and i seem to have sooo much energy. I wake up every hour or so. and i don't feel tired. Does echinacea have caffeine?
Do sleeping pills disqualify you to be able to enlist in the military?
I have a hard time sleeping pretty much everynight. I wanted to get a prescription for Ambien, or Lunesta or something for days I really NEED rest, but I really want to enlist in the Navy. I wouldn't need to take them with me to basic or anything (not that it would be allowed) but would the fact that I have them at all make it so I won't be able to enlist? Thanks!!