Alternatives put insomnia to rest

Lisa Ryckman, Rocky Mountain News

Published October 3, 2006 at midnight

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Ten to 34 percent of Americans regularly experience insomnia, and 1.6 million are estimated to turn to alternative therapies such as herbal medicines and relaxation techniques to help them snooze.

Researchers at the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine and the National Institutes of Health analyzed data from a 2002 survey of 31,044 adults.

Of the adults interviewed, 17.4 percent reported that they regularly had insomnia or trouble sleeping in the previous year.

Insomnia was more common in women than men, most prevalent between ages 45 and 64, and was associated with obesity, hypertension, congestive heart failure and anxiety or depression, but not diabetes.

Of those with insomnia or trouble sleeping, 4.5 percent reported they had used alternative therapies to treat the condition.

They tended to be younger and better educated, and most told their primary physicians what they were doing.

Sixty-five percent used herbal medicines, diet interventions and vitamin therapy, nearly 40 percent used mind-body therapies such as meditation and 56 percent said the therapy was very important to their health and well-being.

About half of those who used either herbal remedies or relaxation said the methods helped them.

The study appears in the September Archives of Internal Medicine.

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