6 ms·
"According to the new book Why We Sleep, by Matthew Walker, the director of the Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, the sleep
by kszxgz 8y ago
"According to the new book Why We Sleep, by Matthew Walker, the director of the Sleep and Neuroimaging Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, the sleep people get on sleeping pills like Ambien is not true sleep. Drugs like these simply “switch off the top of your cortex, the top of your brain,” he explained to New York Magazine, “and put you into a state of unconsciousness.” That’s not sleep; that’s cryogenics. According to Walker, sleeping-pill sleep doesn’t have the same restorative powers—and there are lots, from an immune boost to emotional resilience—as good, old-fashioned zzzzs."
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/10/better-than-ambien/543771/ https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/10/better-th...
- newsbinator 8y agoDoes that apply to Melatonin pills? It seems like a more "normal" way to get your brain to sleep than Ambien.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoNo, melatonin is the actual thing your body produces to go to sleep. However, having used it, if your brain chemistry is sufficiently screwed up, you may find it hard to wake up fully if you don't also take Co q 10 in the morning. That's the coenzyme for melatonin. It wakes you up.
- merinowool 8y agoBrain chemistry stuff was disproved ages ago. There is no such thing as chemical imbalance.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoA. I took enough (prescription) drugs for enough years that it isn't possible I got through that without deranging my brain in some manner. In fact, I think different, I dream different etc. I'm absolutely positive my brain was permanently altered by the experience. B. After all those drugs, I was incapable of sleeping well. In a nutshell, I fixed this with several years of Co q 10 in the morning, melatonin at night. I sleep pretty well most nights these days. C. Every time someone tells me I imagined the whole thing and it is placebo effect, my sons have a good chuckle about how that must make me the most powerful psychic on the planet that I apparently cured myself solely with the power of some idiotic, unscientific belief. (Darth Vader, fear me!)
- apatters 8y agoI don't see why anyone should doubt your observations about the quality of your sleep over time. You've surely paid closer attention than they have, what with it being your sleep. Causality is harder to prove though. Was it really long-term conditioning through melatonin and Coq10? I moved to a new apartment recently and my sleep improved. I thought it might be because of a brand new, very clean aircon. Then my sleep got worse again with nothing else obvious changing. Who knows what confounding variables may exist. Stress, diet, season, etc. As for the theory of placebo effect (where a placebo actually has some type of therapeutic impact), I don't think we've really concluded whether it exists or not -- I'm not a doctor but my understanding is that there is evidence in both directions and the debate is ongoing.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoI did a lot of other things too. That wasn't all I did. But I was able to successfully alter my circadian rhythm on short notice when I worked the night shift and had to occasionally show up for the day shift by using Co q 10 in the morning and melatonin at night and making no other changes. So I'm absolutely certain this combo can move the needle on the circadian rhythm in specific.
- quietbritishjim 8y agoAre you saying that there are no hormones that affect brain function? Or that all people's bodies are always perfect at regulating those hormones? Either way, that is a completely crazy thing to suggest.
- merinowool 8y agoI am saying that brain is not a bucket full of chemicals that need to have right balance.
- raverbashing 8y agoDisproven is a strong word, trying to type on a cellphone with your elbow is a more apt description, not to mention blaming everything on "chemistry imbalance" But yeah, Melatonin do induce sleep (if it's a good sleep is probably debatable, and it's definitely not my first choice)
- WalterSear 8y agoYou are likely taking more than the appropriate 0.3mg dose and too late in the evening, if it's giving you a hangover.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoNo, I was taking less than the recommended dose. My brain was just borked.
- WalterSear 8y agoNo, you were reading the suggested dose off the packet and taking 10-20x the medically recommended dose.
- DoreenMichele 8y agoYou weren't there. I was. I later bought microdoses, basically, in order to be able to keep using it without feeling like I was half asleep for days at a time.
- WalterSear 8y agoLying becomes you as much as your willful ignorance. There are very specific reasons it's not sold in 'microdoses'.
- sushid 8y agoPeople have known this since the 90s. Here's an article from November 3, 1999 [0]. I'm not the parent commenter but I'm not sure why you feel like you were the only one who knew about this. Many people have scales that can detect small doses of supplement and medicine for a variety of reasons. I personally use a cheap jewelry scale that can do the trick to take wait for it a microdose of melatonin once in a while. I personally take less than .01 gram and it does the trick as long as I get ~9 hours of sleep. I try to not take it more than once every other week. [0] http://news.mit.edu/1999/melatonin-1103 http://news.mit.edu/1999/melatonin-1103