1.

Why are doctors reaching for the drug prescription when there are other prescriptions that are more appropriate; like the exercise prescription, the meditation prescription, the holiday prescription, the gardening prescription ...? Poor sleep is definitely not caused by a lack of Stillnox.

There seems to be no brake on this behaviour, no authority that says, 'Hang on, this is not good medical practice.'

2.

Why are people going to doctors for this complaint when doctors have repeatedly shown that they have a very poor handle on either the cause of the problem or what needs to be done about it? People's health is being compromised by a treatment which does not restore poor function to good. It's a tawdry form of health care.

Similarly with the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). All they can do is put out a black box warning on some of these medications - which sounds about as useful as a hip pocket on a singlet!

These warnings don't stop doctors from prescribing the drugs, chemists from dispensing them and patients from consuming them. It's unbelievable really - the response to a drug alert is to put a black box label on the packet. Maybe they should change the shape as well!

If they put out a stronger warning the medical industry interprets this as an official indicator that the drug must be stronger - therefore better. They prescribe more of it.

Drug companies of all persuasions love black, whether it's the label or the box. Just ask the two Johns, Player and Walker. Black is beautiful. Black sells. To heck with the side effects.

It's tragic and scary what's going on and the public is poorly protected by the NPS and the TGA. Despite their efforts, good, bad or indifferent, they appear to have no control over those doctors who continue to run amok with the drug prescription.

THE PRESCRIPTION DESCRIPTION

1.

Work out how much sleep you need.

You might be waking up when you've had enough. If that's the case - get up! Turn in later, get up earlier, stop wasting your time lolling around in bed.

Some people get along very well with just 4 hours sleep a night. It’s all they need. There is a normal spread of hours from 5 through to 9. For most people 9 hours is too much.

2.

Clean up anxiety

Poor sleep is your body’s way of telling you to clean up your anxiety. Complete the past, live the present and create for yourself a powerful future.

'It is the future into which you are living that gives you being and action in the present.' Werner Erhard

Completing the past may mean going to a counselor or a personal development course, or reading books. Living the present means doing things that light up your life, rather than dragging yourself from one flat screen to the next. Creating the future means setting goals for the big thing in life, getting a life coach to steer you in the direction of your dreams.

'If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.' David Henry Thoreau

Don't waste a moment.  Start building those castles while you lie awake in bed and keep building them during the day.

3.

Let go the day

Poor sleep may also be your body telling you that you haven’t let go the day. It could be an ego thing. The day is not more important than a good night's sleep. Let it go. It's gone. Switch off. Clear your mind, meditate.

Don't expect to have the same amount of sleep every night

7 hours might be right one night, 5 another, 9 on another. The variation is normal. Don't worry about it. Either get up, turn the light on and start reading or spend the time in bed thinking.

Get a life

Nietzsche said something to the effect that if all you've got to worry about is not sleeping, then you haven't got much to worry about; life is vacuous.

Fill your life up with things that you think are meaningful and purposeful and at the end of each day you'll sleep like a log and wake up refreshed and raring to go. You probably won't even need much sleep. You'll want to get up early and go to bed late you're so excited about your own life and the things you're filling it up with.

You'll have boundless energy. You'll never be tired*.

If you do wake it will be to think about something. So don't lie there complaining to yourself that you can't sleep, start thinking. Use this time wisely.

* On the question of being tired, most people only get tired when they're bored.

6.

Seize the day

If you go to bed knowing that you've definitely seized the day, you'll sleep like a log. It beats going to bed thinking about all the things you didn't get round to doing.

7.

Take no thought for the morrow

The morrow is sufficient to take thought for the things of itself. Matthew the VIth

To save thinking about the morrow, write down a to do list before you go to bed and let your subconscious do the worrying while you sleep. Turn off, tune out and drop off to sleep.

8.

Clean up your act

Look around you. Is there stuff that needs cleaning up; your office, your house, your garden? Start cleaning up, you'll kill two birds with one stone.

The fifth of the twelve labours set to Hercules was to muck out the Augean stables. It was such a mess they didn't believe he could do it in one day; but he did by rerouting the Alpheus and Peneus rivers. Now maybe you don't have to go to those extremes, but once you've cleaned up you'll feel a mighty rush of accomplishment that will rock you to sleep .

Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But he with a chuckle replied
That "maybe it couldn't," but he would be one
Who wouldn't say so till he'd tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
And he started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it. Edgar Guest

9.

Wake up to yourself

Being woken up may be your subconscious mind telling you to ‘wake up to yourself'. Get up, get on with life, find something to be passionate about. If there’s something on your mind in the middle of the night, either get up and deal with it or start thinking. Time spent awake in bed thinking is time well spent. If you get up and start thinking with a pen in your hand, so much the better. Then, when the thinking's done, go back to bed, to sleep, to dream.

10.

Get up

      If you wake up early, get up! Do something. Start the day. You may need less sleep than you think. There are a lot of people who know that the best time of the day is as the dawn is breaking - particularly if they're out walking, jogging or running. The feeling they experienced sets them up for a great day. Try it for a week and see how you feel. Report back!

11.

Physical activity

Poor sleep could be your body's way of telling you you’re not physically tired. Nathan Pritikin said, ‘If you don’t have time to exercise take an hour off your sleep. You’ll sleep better and you’ll need less sleep.’

If you want to get those kittens purring, sneak in 40 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity every day.

If you can't be bothered exercising put up with poor sleep.

12.

Look after your Self

Your Self is craving some time, attention, affection and thought. It thrives on a good night's sleep, meditation, exercise (both vigorous and relaxed). It loves pampering, reading, holidays and romance.

An inability to get a good night's sleep is just one of many clues that you're not giving enough back to your Self. Find out what it wants more of. Find out what it wants less of.

13.

Meditation and muscular relaxation

      Meditate sitting on a chair in a quiet room for 10 minutes before you go to bed. Then, once you’re in bed, with every breath you breathe out, consciously relax the muscles in your body from your head down to your toes and drift off to a deep and relaxing sleep.

14.

Focus your thinking

Most children are told to go to bed, they are not taught how to go to sleep. Distract the left brain from its busy-ness by focusing on one thought. Use the Silva sleep technique to put yourself to sleep at the beginning of the night and any time when you wake up during the night.

15.

Lose weight

If you're 20 of more kilos overweight, you might be suffering from sleep apnoea. You  stop breathing a few hundred Verdana a night. You wake up tired. The gas mask is a poor-mans substitute for losing weight and getting fitter; it's a couple of Grand into the pocket of Resmed that would be better off in your own.

16.

Lay off the grog

      Because it's a depressant alcohol will help put you to sleep. However, because alcohol has a half life of five hours, you may wake up mid-way through the night.

17.

Lay off the caffeine

      Some people could drink 20 cups of coffee a day and they'd sleep like kittens. Others may only have one cup and it's enough to keep them awake

18.

Reduce your fluid intake

      Having to get up to go to the loo breaks the sleep pattern. Then you may not be able to get back to sleep.

19.

Steer clear of sleeping tablets - treat the cause of your sleep dysfunction

      Sleeping tablets fail to produce the rapid eye movement (REM) deep sleep required for the body to recover naturally and then prepare for the next day.

20.

Stop watching TV an hour before you go to bed.

In fact turn the idiot box off altogether. Read, go out, take up a hobby, play cards …

21.

Do some gardening

A good place to start working on yourself is in the garden. You'll kill another two birds with one stone.

There are few things more satisfying than a day in the garden - physical work coupled with the satisfaction of seeing progress made. I used to help my Dad in the garden on Saturday afternoon. Digging, wheel-barrowing, cleaning out the chook house, going down to the beach at the end of the day to get seaweed and cuttlefish for the chooks, washing the tools and the paths and then having a shower before tea. Ah, sweet dreams.

22.

Go for a very long walk

Treat yourself to a day in the bush - an all day walk in which you come home with tongue hanging out and legs that feel like they're about to drop off. Do that every weekend until your sleep is back to normal.

23.

Romance

Move heaven and earth to spruce up your romantic life. Sweet dreams are made of this. Who am I to disagree?

24.

Take a holiday

Being stressed, anxious and unable to go to sleep may be a reminder that you need a long holiday.

25.

Soothe the savage breast with soft and gentle musick

Musick has Charms to sooth a savage Breast,
To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak.
I've read, that things inanimate have mov'd,
And, as with living Souls, have been inform'd,
By Magick Numbers and persuasive Sound.
What then am I? Am I more senseless grown
Than Trees, or Flint? O force of constant Woe!
'Tis not in Harmony to calm my Griefs.
Anselmo sleeps, and is at Peace; last Night
The silent Tomb receiv'd the good Old King;
He and his Sorrows now are safely lodg'd
Within its cold, but hospitable Bosom.
Why am not I at Peace?

                                                    William Congreve