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In Today's Chat

* Sleep Meds

* Successful Living With Less Stress

* Hidden Cancer Risk in Your Home

* Final Thoughts for Today's Chat: Your Tips for Clutter

Today's Quote

Sir Winston Churchill

Sleep Meds

So what about prescription drugs? I've written another article on my website about the pros and cons of sleep medications. I highly recommend you read it. I have posted a major warning from a sleeping pill expert in that article.

Many, but certainly not all, sleep doctors feel that the new prescription sleeping pills are safe for short-term use and have no problem prescribing them under the right circumstances.

Should you take prescription drugs for insomnia?

I think there are nine factors to consider.

1. Before considering drugs, work with your doctor to rule out other causes of insomnia such as depression, sleep apnea, pain, and menopause.

2. For people with chronic insomnia and dangerous sleep deprivation, medications for insomnia may be necessary. Chronic insomnia is defined as lasting for longer than four weeks and occurring at least three times a week.

3. If the insomnia is just occasional, work first on lifestyle changes such as the ones I mention on my website in the articles on How to Fall Asleep. Or consider solutions such as my articles on natural sleep aids and herbal sleep aids.

I have also spent a lot of time researching the best natural sleep aids and checking out the companies that make and sell them.

I am currently recommending the following outstanding company, Xtend-Life.

They have a powerful natural sleep supplement that has an astounding 49 ingredients. It's excellent for adults and teenagers. Click here to see their Neuro Natural Sleep. (Link opens a new browser window.)

This company has a wide range of natural supplements for whatever ails you. Even if you are not interested in natural sleep aids, if you're interested in good health, you should read the articles they post on their websites.

4. Short term use of sleep meds for a few weeks is best. It's true that some of the newer drugs are designed to work long term. The problem with this is, you may develop mental addiction to the sleeping pills and think you can't sleep without them.

5. You may not benefit at all from a particular sleeping medication. And there's no way of knowing until your doctor prescribes it for you and you try it.

6. You may build up a tolerance.

7. There is a risk of physical addiction, although much less likely with the newer pills available. It depends on the type of sleep medication.

8. Withdrawal to certain types of sleeping pills does happen.

9. Be aware that there can be some serious side effects. One of the biggest ones is that you're sleepy during the day.

What about pregnancy?

Not a good idea to take sleeping medications during pregnancy. Sleep problems are a fact of life during pregnancy. However, there really aren't any studies on the use of prescription sleep medications during pregnancy. Taking them is strictly a decision between a pregnant woman and her doctor.

What about for old people?

I don't know what the phrase old people means. Seriously, at what age are people considered old?

Therefore, here's the best way to look at it. As people get older, they tend to end up taking more and more medications for various ailments. Part of this is because the medical establishment and the pharmaceutical companies are in bed with each other pushing drugs for every hangnail someone gets.

Mixing all of those medications together with drugs for sleep can be a potential problem. So be cautious of that.

In addition, as people age, they metabolize sleeping pills in a slower manner. Therefore, lower doses are safer with less chance of side effects. Side effects are common however: problems with balance, strange behaviors, mental fog and confusion.

Millions of people have insomnia and are turning to prescription pills. Maybe people wouldn't have so many sleep problems and so much stress if they followed the advice below in the next section.

Successful Living With Less Stress

So today, I'd like to share with you 10 tips for living a good life with less stress from Helen Nearing's book, Loving and Leaving the Good Life.

In today's fast-paced, frantic, sleep-deprived world, it would be easy to dismiss her words as trivial or simplistic. Yet, the best wisdom is often the simplest.

1. Do the best you can, whatever arises.

2. Be at peace with yourself.

3. Find a job you enjoy.

4. Live in simple conditions; get rid of clutter.

5. Contact nature every day; find the earth under your feet.

6. Take physical exercise.

7. Don't worry; live one day at a time.

8. Share something every day with someone else; help someone else somehow.

9. Take time to wonder at the world and at life; see some humor in life where you can.

10. Be kind.

Hidden Cancer Risk in Your Home

I recently learned about the second leading cause of lung cancer in the United States. And I want to alert you because it might be in your home and you don't know it.

It's called radon gas and according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), radon kills over 21,000 Americans every year. Only smoking kills more people from lung cancer.

You can't see, taste, or smell radon gas, which comes from the natural decay of uranium in soil, rock, and water. It then gets into the air you breathe. Estimates are that 1 in 15 homes in America have dangerously high levels of radon gas.

It's really easy to test your home for radon. I just tested mine. Went to the local hardware store, got a radon test kit for $10, set out the test viles at home for four days, and mailed the viles in with a postage paid envelope.

I just got the results back after a week (cost $30). My home has radon but the levels were far below the minimum level considered dangerous by the EPA.

If you want to learn more about the dangers of radon, you can download a pdf (no charge) called A Citizen's Guide To Radon from the EPA at this web address: www.epa.gov/radon/pdfs/citizensguide.pdf

No sense in risking your family's health. Get the kit. Do the test. If you're clear, you'll sleep better at night. If your levels are high, the guide will tell you what to do.

Final Thoughts For Today's Chat: Your Tips For Clutter

It seems odd, but a cluttered bedroom can lead to restless night's sleep.

For me, as hard as I try, my home office has piles of papers...stacks and stacks of books and magazines that aren't on bookshelves...and so many sticky notes stuck everywhere, they look like wallpaper.

The rest of my house is clutter free and neat and tidy. But that darn office!

What are your favorite tips for keeping clutter under control? What works for you? Send in some of your tips and I'll put them in this ezine.

For now, I'm outta' here. Life is a journey. Keep exploring.

We'll chat soon.

Rich

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