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Alternative: Nature-be

Author: Jacques Bayle

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In the old ages the way of medicine and healing took mind, body and soul as whole, it was considered that all three of them are interconnected and cannot be separated. If one part is affected the others ought to be disturbed. When one part of the whole was stimulated, it also affected the other parts as well as the whole. Health in spiritual perspective and concerns with physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of our being. In ancient days alternative medicine (http://www.nature-be.com/alternative-medicine.php ) was supposed to be holistic by nature and took at whole being to comprehend and correct the part that is not in balance. Now people are very much aware of the alternative medicines and they try to avoid conventional medicine and use the alternative medicine as these medicine have no and in some cases very little side effect. Few commonly used alternative medicines are.

Once there was a test done to prove that CBT is more effective than sleeping pills. An advertisement was given for Volunteers in newspaper. The restriction was that the person ahs to be 55 or over, should have insomnia of at least 3 months’ duration, with complains of weaken daytime functioning. In addition they had to have no evidence of psychiatric problems or sleep apnea, plus should not be working night shifts. Through screening interviews the contestants went through two polysomnography exams. Those who qualified were than randomly allocated to one of three treatment groups: CBT (18 participants), 7.5 mg zopiclone medication each night (18 participants), or matching placebo medication (12 participants). The treatments plan was for 6 weeks. They Examine at the end of treatment, and for two active groups only after 6 months.

The CBT program comprised on the following:

• Sleep hygiene education - impact of lifestyle habits and environmental factors.
• Sleep restriction - strict scheduling of bedtimes and rising times.
• Stimulus control - breaking associations between sleep environment and wakefulness (e.g. no TV in the bedroom).
• Cognitive therapies - identify and replace beliefs and fears about sleep.
• Progressive relaxation techniques - exercise instructions to reduce muscle tension.

All the participants attended the sessions for 6 weeks, each session lasting for almost 50 minutes. Sleep diaries were made and kept for 2 weeks at all three examination points (pre-test, 6 weeks, and 6 months (active groups only). Almost all the participants were around 60, in the group there were 22 women and 24 men. Polysomnography results: After 6 weeks, total awake time showed significant improvement for the CBT group over both zopiclone and placebo groups - 52% vs.
4% and 16%, respectively. Total sleep time was unaffected in all three groups, but sleep effectiveness was vividly and significantly greater with CBT than placebo. While comparing CBT and Zopiclone, at the 6-month follow-up total sleep time was significantly increased with CBT compared with the 6 weeks value. Zopiclone was not changed from the 6-week value. Total wake time whereas the sleep efficacy were both appreciably better in the CBT group than in the zopiclone group. Sleep diary results: After 6 weeks, total wake time, total sleep time, and sleep efficiency all were improved over their pretreatment values, but there were no differences between treatment groups. At 6 months, total sleep time increased in the CBT group beyond its 6-week value. Total wake time was less in the CBT than in the zopiclone group. The only side effects were reported in the zopiclone group participants plus one person in the placebo group. The side effects were slight - bitter taste, dry mouth, daytime drowsiness, slight nausea, headache, and chest pain.

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About Author

Jacques Bayle hails from Alsace, and belongs to a family of natural healers. Jacques is a true renaissance man, with interests ranging from paragliding, deep sea diving to alternative medicine. He runs a popular informational site on alternative medicine at http://www.nature-be.com and frequently participates in forums on the merits of alternative medicine. He can be reached at: bayle@nature-be.com .

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