Whether meditating before bed or sipping a kava kava nightcap, more than 1.6 million Americans use some form of alternative medicine when they have trouble sleeping.
In analyzing data from 31,000 Americans interviewed for the 2002 National Health Interview Survey, researchers found that nearly one-fifth of adults reported difficulty sleeping in the last 12 months, and of those, about 5% used complementary and alternative medicine to treat their sleeplessness. The majority of those who tried the therapies said they helped, with nearly half saying they helped "a great deal."
Nearly 65% of people using alternative methods to help them sleep used "biological therapies," such as herbs or supplements, and 39% used "mind-body therapies," such as self-hypnosis, guided imagery or other relaxation techniques.
The findings also shed some light on \o7why\f7 people turn to complementary and alternative medicine to treat their sleep problems. Forty percent of those who tried alternative therapies said they had not found conventional treatments helpful. Thirty-five percent said their doctor had suggested the approach. One-quarter thought conventional medicine was too expensive, and two-thirds thought it would be "interesting to try."
The report, published last week in the Archives of Internal Medicine, was part of a larger look at the nation's sleep habits. Researchers also found a strong connection between reports of insomnia or sleep troubles and other health conditions, such as obesity, hypertension, congestive heart failure and anxiety or depression.
"This is giving us a nice snapshot of the characteristics of people who have insomnia in general, as well as those who use complementary and alternative medicine for insomnia and sleep problems," said Richard Nahin, senior advisor for scientific coordination and research at the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
Although the report didn't rank the popularity of specific herbal or behavioral remedies, doctors who recommend complementary and alternative medicine said some alternative therapies -- such as melatonin, kava kava and valerian -- can be effective in treating sleep problems and are typically safer than sleep drugs.
"People are aware that a lot of conventional therapies do have side effects, and there is a potential for a dependency to develop," said Dr. Mary Hardy, director of integrative medicine at the Ted Mann Family Resource Center at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. "If they want to be able to take something on a regular basis, they look to natural therapies to help with that."
