Re the March 30 story "Sleeping Pill Use Grows as Economy Keeps People Up at Night and the related story "Tips on Reducing Risks of Insomnia,": You did not include other important methods to reduce sleeplessness:
* Valerian root extract pills. I stopped using Ambien -- bad side effects (one wakes up groggy, and it may become habit forming). Valerian root is natural and has no side effects that I am aware of.
* Also, I bought a CD "The Conquering Insomnia Program." This program has reduced my need even for valerian root extract. One easy step in the program is: If you wake up and cannot return to sleep in about 15 minutes, turn on a light and read for about 15 minutes. Ninety percent of the time, I can go back to sleep.
If you write about helpful ideas, include all possibilities.
Gail Thompson
San Diego
Denise Gellene rightly states that sleeping pills are dangerous and "it may be time we learned to fall asleep on our own."
But instead of telling us how to do that, she launches into what is a full-page ad for prescription drugs.
She entirely omits proven practices for cultivating sleep such as early dinners, warm showers and reading. She also omits the sleep aids used by millions, such as Tums, Ovaltine and warm milk. She also omits the safe products containing the antihistamine diphenhydramine such as Benadryl, Sominex, Tylenol PM and Excedrin PM.
The health industry has backed itself into a corner in its focus on profits, drugs and surgery. What we need instead are proven and practical approaches to health.
William DuBay
Costa Mesa
Although Denise Gellene reported many new findings in her story on sleeping pills, she failed to include new important data regarding sleeping pills from her interview with me for this story.
First, there is substantial evidence that sleeping pill use is associated with increased mortality risk. Second, the newer "Z" sleeping pills such as Ambien have many more side effects than those reported, including cognitive impairment, dizziness, unsteadiness and loss of coordination, detrimental interaction with alcohol, and rebound insomnia.
Third, more recent studies indicate that sleeping pills increase total sleep time by just over 10 minutes per night -- a benefit that is clinically meaningless.
