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Do you ever find yourself in bed, lying there watching the clock tick - hour after
hour? Do you wake up several times a night wondering if you will ever get back to
sleep? Are you tired and not refreshed when you wake up in the morning? Sleep isn't a
luxury; it's a necessity. Sleep restores the body and mind and helps us maintain our
mental and physical health. Studies have reported that people who get seven to eight
hours of sleep each night enjoy better health and live longer than people who get less
sleep.
Insomnia is a very common disorder. It has been estimated that over 70 million Americans
suffer from sleeplessness and nearly everyone suffers from it at least occasionally.
Persons without adequate sleep experience tiredness, lack of energy, and concentration
problems. Lots of things can cause a sleepless night — exercise or eating before
bedtime, certain prescription and non-prescription medications and temperature
fluctuations in our bedroom. But the main culprit that most of us associate with the
inability to fall and stay asleep is stress. The worrying, the anxiety, the constant
thinking about the days events all keep many of us from enjoying a restful night.
Insomnia can be particularly disastrous because it often leads to a cycle of daytime
behaviors that worsen our
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health — lots of coffee or soft drinks to stay awake, certain food cravings such as sweets or cigarette smoking and
prescription medications. Sleep medications may help us sleep, but usually leave us
drained of energy and "hung over" the next day.
The effects of stress on our sleep patterns are based on the release of a stress hormone.
Normally, these hormones are released when our bodies need to respond to some
outside stimulus — like being frightened or excited. However, they are released in
excessive amounts during times of repeated stress or high stress levels, so much so that
it begins to negatively affect our health. One of the negative effects of stress hormone
overload is a problem with sleeping. Other health consequences of excessive stress hormone
production include problems with blood sugar control, heart related problems and a
decrease in proper immune response.
If lifestyle changes don't seem to do the trick, you should consider Seditol® or a
product that contains Seditol®, the new dietary supplement ingredient developed by Next
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. It was developed to help control an overactive central nervous system. In a recent study, the subjects that took
Seditol® as directed reported the following results:
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