Effective treatments for insomnia

There must be few people who have never suffered from insomnia. And for many people, sleepless nights are a regular occurrence, resulting in exhaustion, irritability, poor concentration, forgetfulness, apathy and an ever-increasing anxiety about whether they will ever sleep well again.

And so they go to see their doctors and ask for sleeping tablets. The problem with this sort of medication, however, is that it is only safe to take it for a few weeks because, after that time not only is it increasingly difficult to stop taking it but also it becomes less effective. Another major drawback is that sleeping tablets do not get to the cause of insomnia – they only treat the symptoms.

But there are many non-drug therapies which are both effective and gentle in treating insomnia, eradicating the cause so that normal sleep becomes possible once more. Among these treatments are hypnotherapy, acupuncture, homeopathy and herbalism. There are also many self-help methods of dealing with insomnia. In How to Sleep Soundly, Dr. Ruth Kidson offers an in-depth look at a large number of complementary and self-help treatments for insomnia and discusses the pros and cons of orthodox medication.