I've been vaguely aware over the years that my husband takes sleeping pills, but I'd never really noticed if he took them every night, or how many he took. I thought that he, like many people, just uses themm once in awhile if needed.
He got into my melatonin which is a mild, gentle, herbal sleep aide, the only kind of sleep aide I can tolerate. I need one or two every couple of months, but I'm always glad to have them around when I need them. Well last time I needed one, the bottle was empty.
Anyway, how is it that a person could lose the ability to fall asleep naturally? People work all day, surely they must be exhausted and tired at the end of the day. How could they not be able to sleep without a pill?
Does regular use of sleep aids cause the body to become dependent on pills, unable to function naturally without them?
Suggestion:
You can get addicted to anything. Your brain gets so used to preforming a function in response to or in the prescence of something, be it a chemical or an activity, that it doesn't readily realize it needs to perfrom the same function without it.
It's not that he's lost the ability to sleep naturally, he's just not used to doing it without help. I think it would be a good idea for him to stop usage if he cares to lose his dependance. It'll cause a few sleepless nights but his brain will gradually adjust.
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Definately! Even laxatives.
There is a risk of becoming addicted to sleeping pills that are chemically based.
I use melatonin almost every night in order to sleep. I've had chronic insomnia since I was a kid and it is the only thing that I can take that helps me sleep without any grogginess the next day. I generally try to not take it over the weekend. I actually isn't an herb. It is an enzyme that occurs naturally in our bodies. Babies have lots of it and we lose it as we age. If this is what your husband has been using to help him sleep, I wouldn't worry about it. There are worse things he could be taking. Just buy him some more.