In “The Machinist”, an anorexic Batman spends a year wallowing in insomnia and marinating in madness.
Nada seems to calm his brain enough to zonk out.
From a hard day’s work to giving Jennifer Jason Leigh a good rogering.
Sound familiar, my insomnipals? Has it gotten bad enough for you that you’ve stowed aboard the medicine wagon, hoping to find the answer each time some new drug comes out? Like this Belsomra they’re pushing now? Despite my pharmaphobia, I’ll bite (not literally; but I’ll look it up for the lot’a you ’cause I’m such a good person). Alright. So we research it, and we learn that it’s “different” because it works on Orexin (our waker-upper neurotransmitters) – whereas prior pill types have upped our GABA (our downer neurotransmitters). Okay, that’s great. Facts are fun. But how’s it look in application compared to the OG’s?
Well, after perusing the article linked above, I learned the following about Belsomra:
1. It’s mostly popular ’cause of the advertising for it.
2. An insomnia study observed that those taking it only got an extra 16 minutes of sleep
3. The same study showed they fell asleep only 6 minutes faster than the control group.
4. Users report feeling like they can’t move or talk.
5. Next-day drowsiness is a side-effect.
Now that I’ve told you all’a that, here’s number 6:
All the bad things about this drug make it pretty much the same as the others. They namely carry the same side effects. In other words, none of these things is genuinely an argument to avoid Belsomra any more than you would Ambien, Lunesta, or whatever other magical nap inducing tablet the shiny grilled sales rep’s wheeling into your local pill mill today. What is, though, is good old common sense – to avoid ‘em all, collectively, if you can. Especially if you’ve been slurping down the current options to no avail (other than the fact that it’s become a bedtime ritual you’re hooked on.) Because – if you know that there’s little to no difference between the GABA uppers and the Orexin suppressors – wouldn’t it follow that there’s little to no point in trying the new pharmaceutical kid in town? I get it. Our brains love novelty. When I see “new drug”, I’m all over that article like my dog on fallen floor scraps. Even though I know I’m not gonna take it. But, when we invite a li’l logic into this particular case, it’s easy to see we’re all just being duped by expert advertising, hype, and docs who wanna upgrade their Mercedes.
Do as you like, says I, but I just thought I’d interject some reason in there.
At the same time, though, I don’t like to knock down one option without at least offering a possible alternative. And what’d that be, you ask? Well, people who’re a bit more scholarly than I am seemed to agree on a pretty valid point regarding insomnia. And that’s this: that few people look at the underlying causes that induce sleeplessness in the first place. Our habits. What we expose ourselves to. How much time we spend around technology. And, obviously, our sleep patterns themselves. A good jumping off point, they suggest, is recruiting some pro level assistance to help us address what factors in our lives are likely causing restfulness to elude us.
“Eye-rolls. Eye-rolls everywhere…”
Yes, I can hear your optical organs journeying skyward at the mere notion of therapy.
Like, it’s the most ridiculous self-indulgent thing ever right?
But you know what else is ridiculous? Spending more money on addressing the symptom (while gifting yourself a litany of mystery side effects) when you could be spending far less addressing the issue’s nucleus. You gotta pluck it out. Like the white, meaty core of a staph infection. (Now, take that delicious metaphor to sleep with you.) It could be some deep seated psychological prob with an intrinsic answer. Just like in the end of the “The Machinist”.
At the conclusion, Bale realizes *spoiler alert* that his own guilt over a suppressed memory of a hit and run he’s done is what’s wrecking his rest. He has to confess and deal with it before he can finally sleep. While (hopefully) your self-deception’s burying something more benign, the anxiety of any dissonance could still be enough to put your slumber asunder. Honestly, it could be as simple as the stuff you’re doing surrounding down time that’s hit ‘n running your rest. (Which you’re equally in denial about being the problem). Either way, hiring up some help to exhume some truth might be a better starting point. In the end, you must do what serves you. But, after having tried most of these pre-packaged pollutants in some form or another before, I can confidently suggest exhausting all other options.
So you don’t have to spend your tomorrows exhausted.
Whether from concealed feels or pharmaceuticals.