Do antidepressants really work to treat depression? A new, six year meta-analysis amalgamating hundreds of the best performed clinical trials has demonstrated that antidepressants are better than placebo. The study, published in the Lancet, showed modest effects, positively affecting about 60% of people treated. Drugs varied in efficacy, ranging between about one third to twice as effective as placebo. What […]
To Do Sleep Faster
Can writing a simple to do list right before bed let you fall asleep faster? Recent research says yes. Which points out that if people do simple cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, or CBT-I, they can make their sleep and waking lives a whole lot easier. The Study Young people 18-30 who weren’t having a lot […]
Is Art Collecting Healthy?
Art and the quest for beauty can leave you sleepless. A patient recently came to me with an unusual complaint – art collecting induced insomnia. He could not stop thinking about modern and contemporary prints, what he possessed and more possessively what he further wished to have. A universe of potential desire awaited him each night. […]
Give Sleep a Chance
The Perils of Political Naps Do we really know how to sleep? The perils of political napping demonstrate that sleepy ideas about sleeping remain steadfastly secure. Recently Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York excoriated one organ of the press, in this case the New York Post, for reporting that he naps during the day. […]
Purpose Driven Sleep
Does sleep have a purpose? Certainly. Sleep is like food. Without sleep, animals die. During sleep we reorganize our brains, consolidate memories, grow skin, rejigger hormones, rebuild tissues. In sleep we continuously remake the internal information that makes us us. But does having a purpose make for better sleep? Purpose Driven Sleep Meaning matters. If people have a sense of […]