For some people, turning their minds off is too difficult, resulting in many sleepless nights.
About 30 to 40 percent of all adults have suffered from insomnia at some point in their lives – and turning to sleeping pills may seem like the best solution.
However, patient advocate and founder of EmpowHer.com, Michelle King Robson, was once addicted to sleeping pills. She came on Fox News Health Talk to explain how she kicked the habit.
King Robson started suffering from insomnia in her late thirties. Initially, she thought it had to do with her crazy work schedule or the stress of taking care of a family – but it turned out to be something else.
“What I learned was that it was really about…my hormones,” King Robson said. “I was actually going into perimenopause.”
Sleep deprivation made it incredibly hard for King Robson to function. She took the sleeping pill Ambien for two years but soon became dependent on it. The drug also had many negative side effects.
“Some people sleep-eat on the drug, some people sleep-drive on the drug,” King Robson said. “But in my case, I was sleep walking.”
King Robson also experienced tingling in her arms and legs, and she said she would hit “a wall” every day at 4 P.M.
In order to get off the drug, she finally had to throw all her Ambien away and deny herself access to another prescription. She now advocates other ways for people to treat their insomnia without resorting to sleeping pills.
“For women in particular – having their hormones checked when they start down that sleepless pattern,” King Robson said. “Developing some type of ritual, which is what I’ve done now to help me sleep. So dimming the lights an hour ahead before you go to sleep…also helps with the brain. And get rid of the devices, the phones next to our bed.”
