Tart cherry juice shortened the amount of time to fall asleep from 31 minutes to 21 minutes, and increases sleep time by 39 minutes according to a study of 10 men and 10 women.

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SSRI’s may increase risk of breast cancer and prostate cancer, and interfere with REM sleep and cause memory problems notes Joan Mathews Larson PhD in this video clip.

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Sleeping pills are estimated to cause 320,000 to 507,000 excess deaths per year in US alone according to a recent study by researchers at Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center in La Jolla, California, USA.

"Rough order-of-magnitude estimates at the end of the supplemental files suggest that in 2010, hypnotics may have been associated with 320 000 to 507 000 excess deaths in the USA alone," the paper notes.

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People taking sleeping pills (hypnotics) were 4.6 times more likely to die over an average follow-up of 2.5 years compared to nonusers according to a recent study by researchers at Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center in La Jolla, California, USA. Read the entire article | Email this article

People taking just one (1) to 18 sleeping pills per year -- and the average in this group was only 8 pills per year -- were 3.6 times more likely to die over an average follow-up of 2.5 years compared to nonusers according to a recent study by researchers at Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center in La Jolla, California, USA.

Realize that this is taking sleeping pills for only 2.5 weeks a year or less which caused this dramatic increased risk of death

"Perhaps the most striking finding was that an increased hazard for death was present even in the lowest tertile of hypnotic use, such that hypnotic drugs were associated with a 3.6-fold increased risk of dying for patients using <18 hypnotic pills per year," the paper notes.

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People taking just 18 to 132 sleeping pills per year -- the average in this group was 57 pills per year -- were 4.4 times more likely to die over an average follow-up of 2.5 years compared to nonusers according to a recent study by researchers at Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center in La Jolla, California, USA.

The average number of pills taken in this group was 57. This is taking sleeping pills for only two months a year which caused this dramatic increased risk of death.

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People taking just more than 132 sleeping pills per year -- the average in this group was 469 pills per year -- were 5.3 times more likely to die over an average follow-up of 2.5 years compared to nonusers according to a recent study by researchers at Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center in La Jolla, California, USA. Read the entire article | Email this article

People taking just 18 to 132 sleeping pills per year—the average in this group was 57 pills per year—were 20% more likely to develop a major cancer over an average follow-up of 2.5 years compared to nonusers according to a recent study by researchers at Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center in La Jolla, California, USA. Read the entire article | Email this article

People taking just more than 132 sleeping pills per year -- the average in this group was 469 pills per year -- were 35% more likely to develop a major cancer over an average follow-up of 2.5 years compared to nonusers according to a recent study by researchers at Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center in La Jolla, California, USA. Read the entire article | Email this article

Sleeping pills are associated with an increased risk of

• depression


• suicide


• falls


• car crashes


• infections


• regurgitation


• hypertension


• heart failure


• arrhythmias


• cardiovascular diseases


• cancer, and


• death

as noted in a recent study by researchers at Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center in La Jolla, California, USA.

They noted that "Infections, in turn, are major causes of mortality and cancer."

They also noted that sleeping pills may:

• increase sleep apnoea


• prolong apnoeas


• cause night eating syndrome leading to obesity


• sleeping pills have been shown to be cancer-causing in rats.
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Sleeping pills were associated with a 4.6 times greater risk of death over 2.5 years according to a recent study.

Instead of sleeping pills, you might try L-tryptophan or pumpkin seeds (which contain tryptophan), or (raw) milk instead of sleeping pills.

(See the Weston A. Price Foundation for why raw milk is better than pasteurized milk. See here or what the excellent presentation by Sally Fallon from the Weston A. Price Foundation talking about raw milk here.)

I've taken L-tryptophan for sleep for 30 years -- occasionally for the first 11 years, and just about every night for the last 19 years. (I have NOT tried pumpkin seeds.)

More is not better.

If I take too much, I will wake up after 3-4 hours.

I'd prefer to take a small dose (500 mg) and bedtime, and then if I wake up too early, take another small dose (250-500 mg).

If I eat chicken or turkey at night, I will NOT take the tryptophan at bedtime.

If I drink raw milk late at night, I will reduce the dose of tryptophan to 250 mg because milk contains tryptophan.

I have also found that taking larger doses of iodine for the past several years has reduce the amount of tryptophan I need.

I have very little experience with 5-HTP -- 5-hydroxy-L-tryptophan -- which is made in our bodies from L-tryptophan.

However, I have read that 5-HTP can cause stimulation several hours later, so be aware of this. L-tryptophan makes more sense to me than 5-HTP since this is what is found in our diet. Read the entire article | Email this article

Teen boys who sleep 7 hours or less on weekdays weigh roughly 7 lbs more than those sleeping more than 7 hours according to a study by Radha Rao, MD, DeBakey of the VA Medical Center in Houston, Texas and others. Read the entire article | Email this article

Teen girls who sleep 7 hours or less on weekdays weigh roughly 6 lbs more than those sleeping more than 7 hours according to a study by Radha Rao, MD, DeBakey of the VA Medical Center in Houston, Texas and others. Read the entire article | Email this article

People consumed 296 more calories when they were only allowed to sleep 4 hours per night compared to when they were allowed to sleep their normal 7-9 hours according to a study from researchers at Columbia University in New York.

On the fifth day of being allowed only four hours of sleep, they consumed an average of 2813 calories versus 2517 calories when they were allowed their normal amount of sleep. Read the entire article | Email this article

An additional hour of sleep reduced the risk of become obese by 30 percent during a 6-year follow-up according to study from researchers at the the University of Turin in Turin, Italy. Read the entire article | Email this article

Each additional hour of exercise reduced the risk of become obese by 6 percent during a 6-year follow-up according to study from researchers at the the University of Turin in Turin, Italy. Read the entire article | Email this article

Disruption of our natural circadian rhythm, called chronodisruption, "has a direct role in inducing accelerated aging," notes a recent paper by researchers at the University of Murcia in Murcia, Spain. Read the entire article | Email this article

"The incidence and progression of some types of cancer, such as breast, endometrial, prostate, colorectal and melanoma, can be promoted by" disruption of our natural circadian rhythm, called chronodisruption, according to a recent paper by researchers at the University of Murcia in Murcia, Spain. Read the entire article | Email this article

Disruption of our natural circadian rhythm, called chronodisruption, can interrupt the normal rise and fall in blood pressure that occurs from day to night according to a recent paper by researchers at the University of Murcia in Murcia, Spain.

"It has been shown that night-time [blood pressure] is the best predictor of stroke and myocardial infarction risk," the authors note.

People whose blood pressure does not fall at night is more common among shift workers and elderly the paper notes.

This suggests that disruption of circadian rhythm may play increase the risk of heart attack and stroke.
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Disruption of our natural circadian rhythm, called chronodisruption, has been linked "with the increased risk of developing certain diseases and with an impairment of pre-existing pathologies: premature aging, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, cognitive impairment and mood disorders," notes a recent paper by researchers at the University of Murcia in Murcia, Spain.

"Obesity and metabolic syndrome are also closely related to [chronodisruption]" they also note. Read the entire article | Email this article

Disruption of our natural circadian rhythm, called chronodisruption, "is also associated with an increased frequency of affective disorders such as seasonal affective disorder, major depression and insomnia" according to a recent paper by researchers at the University of Murcia in Murcia, Spain. Read the entire article | Email this article

Disruption of our natural circadian rhythm, called chronodisruption, can aggravate "cognitive impairment associated with Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia or Parkinson’s disease" according to a recent paper by researchers at the University of Murcia in Murcia, Spain. Read the entire article | Email this article

"The time we sleep has declined by 1.5 [hours] over the past century, accompanied by an important increase in obesity," notes to a recent paper by researchers at the University of Murcia in Murcia, Spain. Read the entire article | Email this article

"The amount of sleep has declined by 1.5 hours over the past century, accompanied by an important increase in obesity," notes a recent paper.

"Shift work, sleep deprivation and exposure to bright light at night increase the prevalence of adiposity," they continue. Read the entire article | Email this article

Women who had trouble falling asleep were 65% more likely to gain 11 pounds or more over the next 5- to 7-years according to The Helsinki Health Study. Read the entire article | Email this article

Women who woke up several times per night were 49% more likely to gain 11 pounds or more over the next 5- to 7-years according to The Helsinki Health Study. Read the entire article | Email this article

Women who had trouble staying asleep were 41% more likely to gain 11 pounds or more over the next 5- to 7-years according to The Helsinki Health Study. Read the entire article | Email this article

Children with shorter sleep duration, which was defined as roughly an hour less than the recommended amount of sleep, were 58% more likely to be overweight or obese than those who got the recommended amount of sleep according to a recent review by researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Read the entire article | Email this article

Children with shortest sleep duration, which was defined as getting roughly more than 2 hours less than the recommended amount of sleep, were 92% more likely to be overweight or obese than those who got more sleep according to a recent review by researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Read the entire article | Email this article

Each additional hour of sleep reduces the risk of a child being overweight or obese by 9% according to a recent review by researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Read the entire article | Email this article

Boys who were 6- to 7-years-old and only got 9-10 hours of sleep were 2.3 times more likely to be overweight when compared to boys who got 10 hour of sleep or more according to the Toyama Birth Cohort Study from Toyama City, Japan. Read the entire article | Email this article

Boys who were 6- to 7-years-old and only got 8-9 hours of sleep were 3.5 times more likely to be overweight when compared to boys who got 10 hour of sleep or more according to the Toyama Birth Cohort Study from Toyama City, Japan. Read the entire article | Email this article

Boys who were 6- to 7-years-old and only got less than 8 hours of sleep were 5.5 times more likely to be overweight when compared to boys who got 10 hour of sleep or more according to the Toyama Birth Cohort Study from Toyama City, Japan. Read the entire article | Email this article

Girls who were 6- to 7-years-old and only got 9-10 hours of sleep were 1.5 times more likely to be overweight when compared to boys who got 10 hour of sleep or more according to the Toyama Birth Cohort Study from Toyama City, Japan. Read the entire article | Email this article

Girls who were 6- to 7-years-old and only got 8-9 hours of sleep were 1.9 times more likely to be overweight when compared to boys who got 10 hour of sleep or more according to the Toyama Birth Cohort Study from Toyama City, Japan. Read the entire article | Email this article

Girls who were 6- to 7-years-old and only got less than 8 hours of sleep were 2.9 times more likely to be overweight when compared to boys who got 10 hour of sleep or more according to the Toyama Birth Cohort Study from Toyama City, Japan. Read the entire article | Email this article

"Sleep deprivation may influence the development of obesity through several possible biological pathways including increased sympathetic activity [ that is, increased adrenaline and noradrenaline ], elevated cortisol [ stress hormone ] and ghrelin levels, decreased leptin and growth hormone, and/or impaired glucose tolerance," according to a recent paper according to a recent review by researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Read the entire article | Email this article

People who slept only 5-6 hours per night, and those who slept 9-10 hours per night gained 3-4 pounds more over a six year period of time than those who slept an average of 7-8 hours per night according to a study from researchers at Laval University in Quebec, Canada. "These results emphasize the need to add sleep duration to the list of environmental factors that are prevalent in our society and that may contribute to the obesity epidemic," the authors concluded.
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Adults who get less than 5 hours of sleep per night are 1.6 times more likely to be obese than adults who sleep 7-8 hours per night according to a new meta-analysis of 17 previous studies done worldwide. The reason for this is thought to be because short sleep changes levels of the hormones leptin and ghrelin which in turn increase appetite and increase the risk of obesity. Read the entire article | Email this article

Americans are sleeping 1.5 to 2 hours less per night than they did 40 years ago notes a recent study which found that short sleep duration causes people to gain weight. "[T]he proportion of young adults sleeping less than 7 hours per night has more than doubled between 1960 and 2001-2002 (from 15.6% to 37.1%)," the paper notes. Read the entire article | Email this article