Exploring the Benefit of Sleep Aids 

Hey everyone, it's Kessonga here. This week we have a very special guest and renowned sleep expert, Dr. Aric Prather on the show. He's gonna break down the science behind the perfect night's sleep. This is part of a really comprehensive sleep program in the Headspace app called 'Finding Your Best Sleep'. You'll find out what's getting in the way of your sleep. You'll learn a variety of techniques to help you address those sleep problems, and you'll be able to create and maintain a sleep plan to help you change your relationship with sleep for the better. You can get his entire sleep course on the Headspace app right now. (atmospheric chiming) Headspace Studios. Hey everyone, it's Dr. Aric Prather here, a psychologist on the frontline of the battle against insomnia. In short, I help people sleep so they can live their best lives. And on that note, today we're gonna talk about sleep aids, those substances, supplements, and potions, if you will, that many of us need to finally go to sleep, or do we? Whether it's melatonin, valerian, or Ambien, there's a lot out there and even more opinions regarding the subject. Today, I'll get into what happens when we take sleep aids, why they may be counterintuitive to better sleep and if that star supplement, melatonin really works. And of course you should always consult your doctor before taking anything to get to sleep. Now with that said, let's dive in. People tend to turn to substances because they may solve the immediate problem in front of them, which is to get to sleep or to stay asleep and that makes sense. In many ways, these medications or supplements can be really helpful, particularly for acute problems. Maybe you are traveling and you need to sleep in the place that you're going or you need to sleep on the plane or you experienced this very severe stressor and it's just really messed with your sleep and you need kind of a short-term fix. Unfortunately, for many people, this short term use turns into chronic use because while many of these tools, whether they're supplements or over the counter or medications, may not be physiologically addicting, meaning that your brain doesn't kind of crave them or need them, they often become psychologically addicting and people begin to almost immediately lose confidence in their ability to sleep without them. I had a patient, like a 35 year old man who was really desperate. He had been dealing with chronic insomnia for the last 10 years and had really been managing it with a mix of different things. So he was taking 10 milligrams of Zolpidem, which its trade name is Ambien, and then he would wake up kind of intermittently throughout the night despite the medication and take a little bit more. He would try other things, you know, maybe take some melatonin at night or he would get up and drink a little bit of alcohol in...