Is Lack of Sleep Making Us Crazy?

“Economic insomnia” is one more complication of America’s financial meltdown, and psychiatric experts warn that it could be making us crazy. People are losing sleep worrying about job loss, foreclosure and bankruptcy. The longer the recession continues, the greater the chance that the financial boogeyman will creep out of the closet and steal away our ability to provide basic necessities for our families. Nearly everyone knows someone who has lost their job to economic demons, and most of us have had to make lifestyle changes. Worry is making for a lot of restless nights. Researchers warn that lack 0f sleep increases the risk of depression and other serious psychiatric conditions.

“When you are tired, when you’re worn out, then everything becomes more of a challenge for you,” Dr. Adam Moscovitch, medical director of the Canadian Sleep Institute in Toronto, told Calgary Herald reporter Sharon Kirkey in an April 12, 2009 online article. ”Your confidence is affected, your ability to trust yourself. So there is a higher likelihood you’ll be ruminating about, are you doing things right? It significantly affects, from the psychologic standpoint, the [risk] of mental illness developing.”

Researchers have proven that lack of sleep has a negative impact on physical and mental health. People who get six hours of sleep or less per night increase their risk of high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke. Chronic sleeplessness weakens the immune system, causes changes in appetite, interferes with sexual interest, decreases the ability to concentrate, and negatively affects function and judgment. Growing evidence indicates that not getting enough sleep can also trigger mental illness, particularly depression, anxiety and mood disorders.

In a 20-year study of 591 young adults published in 2008 in the journal Sleep, Dr. Daniel Buysse of the University of Pittsburgh found that insomnia lasting two weeks or longer often triggered depression. The link between sleep and mental health appears to reside in the amygdala, the brain area that governs emotions. Harvard Medical School and the University of California-Berkeley researchers found that sleeplessness stimulates the amygdala, causing increased brain activity associated with depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses. 

Because of the risk to mental and physical health, chronic insomnia that persists for weeks or months at a time should never be ignored. If worry is regularly interfering with your sleep, talk to your health professional today.

Hoodia Can Feel Good or Bad

Hoodia is a cactus-type plant from Africa that has many uses, however the native populations of South Africa have used it for indigestion or infection.  The plant Hoodia gordonii has been recognized as an appetite suppressant since the late 1970′s in Africa, but in the US there have been no definitive studies establishing it as a safe and effective appetite suppressant.

Despite this, media hype about the drug began around 2004 when 60 minutes aired a special on it’s effectiveness and since then others have followed suit such as the Today Show and Oprah catapulting it’s popularity.  To protect consumers, Hoodia exporters must be issued a CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) certificate by the office of Western Cape Nature in order for Hoodia to be legally exported abroad from Africa.  It is illegal to export Hoodia without this certification.

Why is a psychiatrist talking about Hoodia?  Having treated patients who took Hoodia (at their own initiative), I’ve seen how it has benefited most and also had some negative effects.  Most established appetite suppressants available in the US are stimulants and stimulants as a side effect can lessen one’s desire to eat.  It’s not clear what the active ingredient (P57) does, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s not a naturally occuring stimulant.  As such, it can also have the unwanted affects of agitation and anxiety.  If you already have anxiety, this could really worsen your condition.

Some people have dealt with this by taking less than the recommended dose.  The pills are usually capsules and can’t be split, but rather than taking it three times a day, some people have taken it once a day at the time of their worst cravings.  I have heard some people say Hoodia “takes the edge off” their cravings giving them enough contol to choose not to eat junk or munch unneccessarily.

We know there is no magic pill to control weight, as controlling your eating requires behavioral change.  So for some who recongize that long term control of eating is a lifetime, lifetstyle adjustment, Hoodia can be something that gets them started in the right direction long enough to get used to a new way of eating and using food.

Of course, as with any drug (and herbal remedies are drugs too, just naturally occuring ones), a person considering starting it should check with their health care provider prior to taking it.

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