Sleep deprivation is actually a curse, and we don’t leave any stone unturned to get a cure for this. We often end up choosing the wrong ways, harming the body. Some of them might instantly work, but they leave a lot of side effects.
Easy things are not always the best, and Sarah Wagner at SweetIslandDreams.com does think the same. Here are given the sleep remedies that you should avoid or rather follow only after an expert’s guidance.
What Are The Harmful Sleep Aids And How Do They Affect Us?
Here in the following list, there are things that we consume or use for the instant effect of sleep, but they are harmful to our bodies in the long run.
Unauthorized Medication
Consuming medicines without any doctor’s consultation is known as unauthorized medication. The following are the two types of medications that people mostly use for sound sleep.
Sleeping Pills
These tablets, available at the medicine shops, are probably the easiest options to consume and sleep for a longer period. Remember, those are only for people with severe insomnia or other health diseases where the body needs a considerable amount of rest. It should be a doctor’s decision to let anybody have such tablets. Never have any medication, let alone the sleeping pills, on your own, especially without any doctor’s permission.
Now you may wonder how do they affect the body in a negative way? Well, you become dependent on the pills so much that your body will be unable to sleep without such medication. Sleeping medicines are usually consumed for a certain period of time. If you consume it every day, that too, without any medical condition, then it is doing you more harm than good.
Anti-allergy Medication
Also known as the antihistamine, this kind of medicine is mostly used for curing various allergy types. These medicines can make the patient drowsy soon and that is why many people suffering from sleeplessness take anti-allergy pills. This is a strict no-no because those are for certain conditions which don’t include insomnia.
These medicines work directly against histamine, a compound that our nervous system usually has, but only when it has severe allergic reactions. It is best advisable to jeopardize the body without knowing much about it.
Also, this medicine stops working if your body is too accustomed to having it on a regular basis. The sedative effect of the anti-allergy pills is not going to work on you either. Rather, you will feel drowsy but not sleepy, and that is punishment itself. Not only this, but if old people take this medicine for sound sleep, then there is an increased risk of dementia.
Alcohol
Drinking and passing out afterward is common, and so is people’s belief that alcohol is a reliable option to induce sleep. But is that so? Not at all; in fact, the opposite. Excess drinking can ruin the natural sleeping capacity, leading to insomnia.
Actually, alcohol has a sedative property that works as a nerve depressant. The side effects that it causes are liver damage and sleeping disorder. Being tipsy and then sleeping is a result of slowness in the brain caused by alcohol consumption.
Apart from these, the overall sleep quality is badly hampered because alcohol might trigger sleep apnea or unnatural breathing during sleep. Rapid and non-rapid eye movements are also negatively affected by alcohol.
Opium, Weed, And Cannabis
Many people who are substance abusers often sleep right after a prolonged session of consuming the above-mentioned items. While some of them can promote good sleep, they all have their limitations.
Some of them are used to treat some stress and anxiety-related issues as well. But you have to remember that every human body is unique and how one reacts to such things depends totally on the person. Still, these things are not good if consumed for a long time.
Sleep Tracking Devices
People with serious sleeping issues often use smartwatches built for tracking sleep. The fun thing is that it doesn’t tell you something new, rather quite the obvious, like you didn’t sleep well or you had a deep sleep. The person using the watch will know it better even if the watch doesn’t inform them. Many people fret over the sleeping quality that the watch tells them. But there is no solution; you are losing your cool. Instead, go to a doctor and get yourself treated. Being too much dependent on apps and tools is bad anyway.
Television
There is a common practice of watching television and dozing off gradually. Many people keep a television in their bedroom for the same purpose. While it may become a habit and seems apparently effective, there is a dark truth hidden behind this.
Television rays and sounds disturb your natural melatonin (sleep hormone). Even if you sleep, it is not sound sleep because there is no silence which is also one of the prerequisites for a long sleep.
It is all about little practices and misconceptions that often harm us in the disguise of help. It is always a wise decision to talk about your problems to those who can provide a solution. Rather than experimenting with your body, researching to know the truth is advisable.