I wanted to call attention to my recent piece in the Florida Sun-Sentinel about insomnia, and its related health issues. The piece centers on the recent excellent Alan Berliner documentary Wide Awake on HBO.
I am what i would call a self-induced insomniac, i use it to get my writing done and meet deadlines. Unfortunately, this establishes a pattern of middle of the night wakefulness which persists even when i have no deadline. This is not good for my health. I don't currently take sleeping pills, but many of my patients find them useful - and in fact Ambien is one of those examples of good drugs that to from panacea to panic whenevever a media report focuses on the rare sleepwalker. All drugs should be managed or monitored by the doctors who prescribe them, but they are not good guys or bad guys, they are useful arrows in our medical quiver.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-forum06insomnianbjul06,0,5107682.story?coll=sfla-news-opinion
I am what i would call a self-induced insomniac, i use it to get my writing done and meet deadlines. Unfortunately, this establishes a pattern of middle of the night wakefulness which persists even when i have no deadline. This is not good for my health. I don't currently take sleeping pills, but many of my patients find them useful - and in fact Ambien is one of those examples of good drugs that to from panacea to panic whenevever a media report focuses on the rare sleepwalker. All drugs should be managed or monitored by the doctors who prescribe them, but they are not good guys or bad guys, they are useful arrows in our medical quiver.
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/sfl-forum06insomnianbjul06,0,5107682.story?coll=sfla-news-opinion
