Bad Night Who’s a perfect sleeper? Gaze in a mirror and you’re probably not looking at one. In Gallup polls, perhaps only 5% of the population says they sleep well every night. Yet lots of people have bad nights, with perhaps one third of Americans complaining of insomnia that goes on and on and on. […]
Safe to drink? With the FDA moving on Lazy Cakes, what’s up with relaxation drinks? (8/3/11)
Generally Recognized as Safe When drugs as marketed to foods, people get hurt. That’s what the FDA concluded about Lazy Cakes, a melatonin laced brownie sold as “adults only” but marketed to kids and teens. Michael Roosevelt of the FDA send a warning letter last week to HBB, maker of Lazy Cakes, declaring the “relaxation […]
Please don’t wake up – interrupted sleep harms memory (8/01/11)
Arousals You Can Live Without Some technologies are astonishing. Imagine this – you want to wake up an animal so quickly and efficiently that you do not change overall sleep – just cause brief arousals that don’t shift the amount of REM, deep sleep, or how long you get to rest. And you do it […]
Relaxation Drinks – cause for anxiety? (7/29/11)
Immediate and Ultimate Relaxation? Any idea what’s in that can you’re drinking? In a wired up nation worried about multiple wars, fiscal collapse, disappearing jobs, hurricanes and floods, global climate change and the Casey Anthony trial results, it’s no surprise that people want to relax. Into that “perceived need” have jumped “relaxation drinks,” presently numbering […]
Sleep in a can (7/11/11)
Why Do We Have Relaxation Drinks? Americans are pretty wired up these days, and getting enough sleep is tough. Close to 40% complain of insomnia making them too tired to fully function (http://www.jhsph.edu/healthymonday/2011/03072011_sleep.html), perhaps 5-10% of the population is presently suffering significant depression (http://userpages.umbc.edu/~marcotte/depression%20prevalence.pdf), and many millions more complain of high levels of anxiety – […]