Natural Alternatives to Sleeping Pills

by Dr. Nelson May 28, 2018

Insomnia Can Be Helped, But This Way is Risky!!

Research suggests that one of the most common drugstore pills may pose a serious risk to your health. In fact, these pills are so common, there's a good chance you have a bottle in your own bathroom cabinet.

Studies from Scripps Research Institute show that these "harmless" pills could significantly increase your risk of cancer.

The study was headed up by Dr. Daniel Kripke. He's a Harvard graduate and leads research for the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California.

"The evidence is that any patient who takes these pills is increasing his risk of getting cancer," he says. "I feel that my patients should be warned about this risk."

So just what ill is eased by this common drugstore pill?

The answer: insomnia.

Comprehensive Study Done on 34,000 People

The research team set out to determine if sleeping pills are as harmless as people seem to think.

The study looked at a total of 34,000 people across five years. The team focused on about 10,000 people who used sleeping pills, compared to a control group of 24,000 patients. To increase accuracy, they made sure that both groups shared the same age, gender, health, and lifestyle profiles.

The results clearly showed a much higher incidence of cancer for the people taking the sleeping pills.

Dr. Robert Langer, a co-author of the study, says, "We tried every practical strategy to make these associations go away, thinking that they could be due to use by people with more health problems."

"No matter what we did, the associations held," he says.

In fact, the rates of cancer were 35 percent higher for the people who took sleeping pills, compared to those who didn't.

The study showed that all of the eight most common sleeping pills increased cancer rates, including the popular drugs, Ambien and Lunesta.

The results were published in the prestigious British Medical Journal.

So why would sleeping pills cause cancer?

No one really knows yet, because the research is so new. But Dr. Kripke does have a theory - "These drugs break certain chromosomes, which is a well-known specific chemical mechanism by which drugs cause cancer," he says.

Much Safer, Natural Aids For Sleep

Everyone is so unique that the "sleep" recipe is different for everyone. Some individuals come into our office and get a detox footbath session and just from the junk that is pulled out of the liver, an individual begins to sleep better. A toxic liver can affect sleep patterns.

When some individuals are put on the right type and proper amount of magnesium and calcium, they begin to sleep better. There are good and not so good magnesium formulas. We use a Triple Magnesium/Triple Calcium formula.

Some people need to be put on melatonin, as this is a good hormone to help get you to sleep better. We also have a sleep formula, Sweet Dreams, that has a variety of sleepy herbs and melatonin combined. Although, some people have funny dreams if they take melatonin. Melatonin is not the answer for everyone.

For others, they respond better to a formula with Valerian and several other herbs that help to promote sleep. Valerian is nontoxic and has no addictive properties. Clinical studies have used between 300-900 mg with good results. Take one to two hours before bedtime. This formula is also helpful for individuals that have bouts of anxiety. It has a very calming effect on the body.

I had a client tell me that putting a little dab of pink salt (either Himalayan or Real salt) on the tip of your tongue before bed helps to induce sleep. Pink salt is apparently helpful for regulating sleep. It is a natural hypnotic. You need to drink a full glass of purified water and then put a pinch of salt on your tongue and let it say there. Please keep in mind that pink salt helps to regulate blood pressure - white table salt does not do this. If you try this method and it works, I would love to have some feedback!

As usual, even the "safest" drugs turn out to have serious side effects. And like always, there are natural alternatives that you can use that achieve the health benefits you need, without any of the risks that come from man-made drugs.

Blessings to you!!,

 Dr. Valerie Nelson & Jenna Nelson, CNC, LMT