Today’s (Sunday, Nov. 18, 2007) New York Times Sunday Magazine treats problems in human sleep, and has some withering comments about sleep nostrums we see advertised in tv, Lunestra, Ambien, etc.. Sleep studies show they allow one to fall asleep only 18 minutes sooner than usual and produce on average only 22 additional minutes of sleep. Further (and this is the kicker) they may very well owe their perceived effectiveness to their amnesiac affect, ie, they don’t give you a good night’s sleep; they keep you from remembering you had a bad night’s sleep. -- _________________________________________________________________ Censorship is a juggernaut that cannot be fine-tuned Jet Foncannon 4516 Locust Street Philadelphia, PA 19139

Also melatonin is super for encountering Jetlag. I've used it regularly on hundreds of trips to Europe and Asia. Barbara Meissner wrote: > > I had insomnia from early childhood to about 10 years ago, when I tried > Melatonin. I took that every night for about two years. Then one week > when I was really short of money before a payday, I ran out. I > discovered that I really didn't need the melatonin any more. These > days, with only occasional exceptions, I am asleep within 10-15 minutes > of going to bed. In the past it might take two or three hours. Now, I > take the melatonin occasionally when I feel what I call "my brain > buzzing". My _feeling_ for what it is worth (nothing, of course) is > that taking the melatonin every night trained my brain to equate getting > into bed with sleep time. > > I don't know what studies of melatonin have shown. This is one of those > cases where I do not care whether the affect is "real" or not. It works > for me. > > -----Original Message----- > From: org.opn.lists.skeptix-bounces@lists.opn.org > [mailto:org.opn.lists.skeptix-bounces@lists.opn.org] On Behalf Of > josephus > Sent: Sunday, November 18, 2007 5:41 PM > To: Scientific discussion of extraordinary things > Cc: Scientific discussion of extraordinary things > Subject: Re: placebo sleep > > > > > > > > sleep is a difficult subject to test. one of the things I learned with > mine, is that it is governed by the body core temperature. when the temp > > rises-- you wake up.. when the temp falls,-- you go to sleep. this is > why people in extreme cold conditions get sleepy. the various sleep aids > > never help me. but in fact melatonin works best.. > > josephus > --- > > I go sailing in the Summer and > look at STARS in the Winter. > "Everybody is igernant, jist on differt subjects" > Will Rogers Jr. > "it aint what you know that gets you in trouble > it is what you know that aint so" > Josh Billings. > > _______________________________________________ > Skeptix mailing list > Skeptix@lists.opn.org > http://www.lists.opn.org/mailman/listinfo/org.opn.lists.skeptix > _______________________________________________ > Skeptix mailing list > Skeptix@lists.opn.org > http://www.lists.opn.org/mailman/listinfo/org.opn.lists.skeptix -- _________________________________________________________________ Censorship is a juggernaut that cannot be fine-tuned Jet Foncannon 4516 Locust Street Philadelphia, PA 19139