Hi everyone,

I just wanted to pop back over and clarify what seems to be a point of confusion. Many CantSleep readers appear to be in search of a singular “test” which definitely shows if you have insomnia, and if so, what the root cause of it is. Unfortunately, there is no such test. If there was, my own insomnia would have been assuaged months ago. However, there are tests which can identify — or rule out — some specific causes of insomnia. Most salient of these is a sleep apnea test. Sleep apnea can be definitively identified via a sleep apnea test. These tests are administered by professionals, and oftentimes you must spend the entire evening being monitored (I have gone through this myself). In my case, the sleep apnea test came back negative. However, there is no test to determine what truly is the cause of my particular sleep issues.

Insomnia can arise from a variety of causes. Some of these are physical, while others are mental. Stress can trigger bouts of insomnia, and depression has been identified as a main cause behind many cases of chronic insomnia. As indicated, physical conditions like sleep apnea can be the root cause of sleep problems. Unfortunately, there is no one easy test which can ascertain whether the cause of a particular case of insomnia is due to physical or mental issues. Many seem to confuse what they read about a sleep apnea test interpreting it as being a generic test for insomnia.

So, in terms of my own sleep problems — I have been continuing with my hypnotherapy with my great therapist, Sharon. I am beginning to notice improvements, and several of the past nights have been pretty much insomnia-free. Sleep is coming back into my life and it is a great feeling. Hopefully some of you reading this now can soon find the relief that I think I have come upon. I’ll provide further updates soon,

Barnaby

Hi Everyone,

It’s Barnaby, and unfortunately I have returned. Not that I didn’t miss all the wonderful feedback from the readers of CantSleep.com — but I had thought I had put my trouble sleeping to bed once and for all (no pun intended). For around two weeks, Valerian was working perfectly — but, to my dismay, last weekend I once again had trouble sleeping. I at first chalked it up to a temporary relapse into insomnia, but after tossing and turning the entirety of last night I realized my trouble sleeping has returned with a vengeance. I’ve previously enumerated here at CantSleep my search for the root cause of my insomnia — to no avail. My sleep apnea test came back negative, I don’t suffer from depression and I’ve severely limited my consumption of caffeine and alcohol since my trouble sleeping began several months ago.

I thought I had found the magic bullet to cure my trouble sleeping with Valerian — but alas, that was too good to be true. Well, I’m going to have to delve back into my insomnia research and unfortunately start again appointments with specialists in my seemingly never-ending quest for a good night’s sleep. I shall keep everyone updated on my sleep (or lack thereof).

Cheers,

Barnaby

Everyone likes to enjoy a good night’s sleep but not many are fortunate enough to get that every single day of their lives. Drugs such as Indiplon promise to help sort out this very problem.

Indiplon – Sleepless No More

Indiplon is an experimental sleep inducing drug which has been made primarily in two formulations, the immediate release version for sleep onset and the other which is a sustained release version, for sleep maintenance. Hence the administration of the drug can be varied depending on specific sleep problems as reported by the individuals seeking treatment. The immediate release formulation is believed to be effective for about three to four hours and helpful for those who have trouble falling asleep. The sustained release version lasts for about six to eight hours and works well on those who wake up frequently while sleeping. It has been successfully tested on rodents where quick and significant depression in locomotor activity was observed on administration and therefore believed to act more quickly and effectively than most sleep inducers.

Indiplon is a non-benzodiazepine agent which has a high affinity towards GABA-A receptors and binds itself to a GABA-A receptor inside the brain resulting in inducing of sleep. There are many sleeping pills like Ambien and Lunesta but Indiplon is expected to be ten times more effective than these drugs. Indiplon has a faster more effective result as it gets absorbed into the blood stream relatively quickly and gets metabolized faster as well, as a result of which the person will not feel sleepy or drugged when he wakes up in the morning. The main use of the drug is for two purposes. For an occasional good night’s sleep and for the cure of chronic insomnia.

Insomnia is a common disorder that affects a large part of the world’s population and originates dues to a number of reasons. Almost everyone experiences a few sleepless nights in a lifetime, but there are some who seem to take up a larger share. People suffering from insomnia either find it difficult to fall asleep or wake up in between sleep frequently, thereby ending up with a stressed and restless feeling when they wake up eventually in the mornings. Although in most cases treating the causative factors such as depression or stress may help relieve insomnia, in certain cases where there are no apparent or underlying causes the insomnia may need to be treated as a distinct problem by itself.

Although Indiplon is expected to help many distressed insomniacs enjoy a night of fitful uninterrupted sleep it is not without its share of side effects. Like almost all other hypnotic drugs prolonged use of non-benzodiazepine drugs such as Indiplon can cause serious damage to one’s body and is believed to cause cancer of the breast, lungs, heart, lung, brain and bowel. The dosage prescribed depends on the sleep patterns of individual cases. For a person who suffers from insomnia and is able to sleep for less than six hours a four weeks of dosage of 10 mg daily is recommended. What works in favor of Indiplon as compared to other sleep inducing drugs is the fact that unlike the other sedatives Indiplon does not leave a long lasting drowsy feeling.

Summary

Sleep deprivation in babies or infants is not very different from sleep deprivation in adults. A number of adults find it difficult to sleep each night and similarly infants also have problems while trying to sleep. The only difference is that the causes of sleeping problems in babies are entirely different from the causes of sleep problems in adults.

In adults sleep problems are usually blamed on the factors like stress, jetlag, depression, work, etc. but what have these factors to do with the babies that can’t sleep ? In fact every child or baby has varying sleep patterns and different sleeping habits. Even the time, when they go to sleep also varies from one infant to other. Usually during the first few months from their birth, babies on an average, sleep for about 16-18 hours per day. The baby may wake up once or twice during this sleeping period but normally falls back asleep on his own.

Babies experiencing sleeping problems usually:

• Find it very difficult to go to sleep

• Wake up quite early in the morning

• Wake up a number of times during the night and have a difficult time in getting back to sleep

Sleeping problems in babies are often due to one or some of the following reasons:

• Babies or young children may want to grab the attention of their parents at all the times.

• The baby may be suffering from some digestive problems like colic.

• The most common reason is that the baby might be hungry and not getting proper feed.

• Sleepless nights are very common the infants start their teething process.

• The baby may be having some serious health ailment.

Some tips to handle babies that can’t sleep:

• If the baby starts crying in the middle of the night, there is absolutely no need to rush there immediately. Most of the times babies stop crying on their own and fall back asleep themselves. Your attention or intervention at each and every cry will provide the baby with a reason to remain awake.

• Make sure that the outside noises are not disturbing your baby’s sleep. If you think that such noises are preventing your baby from sound sleep then you can try to cover up these noises by playing some soft music.

• Do not encourage the baby’s habit of going to sleep in your arms. Try and cultivate the ritual of his falling asleep in the crib. Make sure to select a comfortable crib and provide the baby with soft pillows that can mould perfectly according to the shape of the baby’s head.

• Unless the doctor prescribes, you should never use any infant medication on your own, to make your child fall asleep.

• The market is replete with baby products that help in promoting sleep. These devices are called sleep machines and produce white noise. These machines allow the child to have a restful sleep.

As a responsible parent it is important for you to know when to go to a doctor regarding your baby’s sleeping problems. Despite of all your efforts, if the number of consecutive sleepless nights of your baby keeps on increasing then you must head to a physician for a thorough check-up of your baby.