Can’t Sleep? Mounting Evidence on the Long-Term Negative Impacts of Sleep Deprivation & Natural Medicine Approaches to Help You Sleep Better

A recent NY Times article on sleep deprivation highlights the way lack of sleep may well cause long lasting damage to the brain. I have written before about how insomnia is one risk factor for cognitive decline. And I have shared thoughts about addiction to benzodiazapines. What follows here is general information about how naturopathic doctors think about insomnia.

Photo by Somnox Sleep on Unsplash

If you struggle to fall asleep or stay asleep, you are not alone. Forty percent of American adults get less sleep than the nightly seven hour minimum recommended by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Good quality sleep is essential to whole-person health — mind, body, and spirit — and sleep deprivation can increase the risk of chronic disease, impact metabolism and hormone production, worsen cognitive and motor performance, and wreak havoc on your overall health. Licensed naturopathic doctors (NDs) are trained rigorously to identify and treat the numerous underlying causes of insomnia, and to address…