Maven Says: Listen to the "24-Hour Pharmacist"

Suzy Cohen, America's Most Trusted Pharmacist, with 20 years of experience and many national television and radio appearances and a syndicated column, "Dear Pharmacist" that appears around the world offers up a book, The 24-Hour Pharmacist. The book, published by Collins offers her advice, opinions and cures for looking younger, feeling healthier while saving time and money all in a easy to read format and easy reading style.

As someone who has been fighting insomnia with every treatment from over the counter sleep aids to acupuncture I was interested to see the opinion of a pharmacist since it seems that I have conferred with folks from every other traditional and alternative medicine specialty. Given that, I cheated and started the book with chapter 8: A Nation of Insomniacs: Do You Really Need a Pill to Get a Good Night's Sleep? In this chapter she covers the media onslaught of commercials for prescription sleep aids and gives them credit where its due but suggests there are lots of other things to check out before going that route. She gives names to the various types of insomniac in the down to earth style used throughout the book, I am a long-time "Antenna Head" whose mind goes into re-wind (or sometimes fast forward) when I go to bed and by the time I get to sleep hours later I am mad. I've also had some experience as a "Creepy Crawler" and a "Bed Bugger." Cohen reviews medications, diseases, and hormones that might be keeping you awake and then suggests possible herbal remedies, melatonin, Reishi mushrooms, as well as OTC sleep aids and prescriptions. I was glad to see some of the remedies I have tried, like my nightly lavender scented baths among her suggestions.

Of course having suffered from insomnia for a long time fatigue is also something I've wrestled with so I went back and started at the beginning of the book with Chapter 1: Overcoming Fatigue: From Stupor Woman to Super Woman. Yeah, that sounded right up my alley. In this chapter I had a hard time deciding which of the faces of fatigue was most descriptive of myself--am I a Juggling Janet or Morning Mary, hmmm maybe I'm really Stupor woman. As I read more I was fascinated by the connection with fatigue medications and hormones. I've been using Ashwagandha for the last month or so and it has helped with my insomnia, in this chapter I also learned that it might help with my thyroid function and control blood sugar and cholesterol--nice bonus! I found the easy to understand description of your adrenal glands and what they do really interesting, certainly not something I've heard from my physician or read about anywhere--until now.

The book is divided into five parts:

• Above the Waist



• Above the Neck



• Below the Waist



• And Everything in Between



• Think Outside the Pill

The chapters in these parts cover everything from "toenail crud" to aromatherapy in the same down-to-earth style that makes the book an easy read even if you aren't nearly ready to think about "surge protection for your hot flashes." The book does start with a disclaimer that reminds you that the book is not intended to take the place of appropriate medical care but instead to allow you to explore "all potential options for health and wellness." The end of the book has many resources and references so that you read more and find the products discussed in the book. You can also check out the authors website Dear Pharmacist for more information.

If you are interested in winning your own copy of the book, stop by the Parent Bloggers Network site and leave a comment on the launch of the campaign for The 24-Hour Pharmacist or the mid-campaign round-up this Friday, July 13. You'll be entered to win a copy of the book and a $50 CVS giftcard (who couldn't use that?!).

Good Night: The Sleep Doctor's 4-Week Program to Better Sleep and Better Health

When I was pregnant with my youngest the sleeplessness started in my first trimester and pretty much never went away. First it was needing to go to the bathroom every couple of hours all night long, then it was what the OB called hormonal insomnia--his really bad news, when it let up I'd be too uncomfortable to sleep--he was right. So for roughly 9 months I didn't sleep much at all. After Boobah was born it was life with a nursing newborn but infinitely better than it had been, at least I was awake for a reason. Fast-forward 3 years, I have a bum gallbladder, the doctor says it doesn't have to come out right away--so I put it off for nearly a year. Much of that year I was up at night with pain or indigestion. Given those experiences I jumped at the chance to review Dr. Bruess' Good Night.

After the introduction, the beginning chapter of the book discusses the need for good sleep and the most common causes of a sleepless night:
· Anxiety, stress and nervousness
· Caffeine consumption
· Parenting
· Bed partners
· Hormonal fluctuations
· Travel, especially business travel
Knowing that at least 4 of the 6 were issues for me on a regular basis I started the book with great hope for helping with my sleep issues. The first chapter sets up the rest of the book well, introducing the sleep issues and making you want to read more to find out how to cope with them for a good night’s rest.

The next chapter looks at the three most common problems that cause disordered sleep; anxiety and stress, caffeine consumption and gender. For each there is a good overview, a quiz to evaluate your own experiences and an action plan for coping. After that Dr. Brues describes the three people who impact your sleep kids, bed partner and business travel. Having two kids who get up at night semi-regularly and a husband with a snoring problem I was glad to have some new strategies to try and deal with them. My husband and I now have designated nights to get up with the kids instead of waiting each other out to see who gives in first, it is nice to have the expectation that you’ll get up relieved some nights. The other area where my sleep experience definitely needs work is a new bed. My husband has been advocating for a new bed for the last year or so and I’ve resisted due to the cost. Now I am convinced that it is costing us both sleep and that’s not a price worth paying, next week when my folks have the girls we need to head out and shop for a new bed. Thankfully the book has tips for picking out a bed that works for both of you.

The next chapter describes the “Extreme (but Easy!) Bedroom Makeover. I considered our room relatively sleep friendly and we scored well on several points—we keep the house cool at night and we have dark drapes to keep the room dark. We already had it planned so that it wasn’t necessary to turn on lights at night to go to the bathroom and a no flushing plan to keep it quiet. The biggest culprit we need to tackle is keeping the room neater so that the mess doesn’t keep us (or at least me) from a good night’s sleep. I also turned the alarm clocks away from the bed so I wouldn’t clock watch at night and the light wouldn’t bother me when I did wake up.

Dr. Michael Breus spends the next few chapters of the book convincing the reader that the right amount of sleep has a significant effect on our health—maintaining weight, better sex life, and slowing down the aging process. Who wouldn’t want to take advantage of that?! Having struggled with my weight for years and having read some of the newer studies that say that sleep deprivation can heighten the risk for diabetes I was won over on the need for more/better sleep. I think the action plans in the preceding chapters have set me up for moving closer to the goal of a good night’s sleep. I was left envious of the chapter on napping, as a working Mom the chance of fitting a nap into my schedule is pretty slim. I could appreciate the napping advice and the restorative possibilities though.

Finally, I had reached the promised land, the 28-day program for better sleep. As I read the first part of the section on the Sleep Boot Camp I knew I was in trouble. Having started a diet and exercise re-do in the last few months I realized I couldn’t tackle them all at once. I was making other substantial changes in my life and totally re-vamping my sleeping lifestyle was going to cause me more stress than I was already under. I felt ready to tackle the action plans described earlier in the book and make some improvements in my sleep but the 28 day program, at this point in my life, felt like the restrictive diet that cuts out a lot of things that I just wasn’t willing to give up right now—like TV an hour before bed. For now, I am armed with some common sense things that are making a difference in my quality and quantity of sleep. Hopefully if these steps don’t work, in the not so distant future I will be ready to fully tackle my next step to health and wellness—a good night’s sleep through the 28 day plan.

The book is good at laying out causes for not sleeping, a way to self evaluate and provides plans for helping you deal with the problems. There are many interesting sidebars such as myth busters and information about how people sleep around the world. I truly appreciated the recognition that parenting and mothering in particular are hard work. The discussion of gender and hormone issues hit home for me as well. There are many notes and appendices to guide you through the journey to better sleep including Dr. Brues’ website, the insomnia blog and your beauty sleep sites. I would recommend the book to others struggling with sleep making sure to point out that it takes some work and commitment to truly solve your sleep problems. Like so many other things in our lives, you have to be ready to make changes to be successful in reaching your goal.

Watch for More Info On: Good Night

I'm in the process of reading, Good Night: The Sleep Doctor's 4-Week Program to Better Sleep and Better Health by Michael Brues, PhD. I have been in search of a good night's sleep since I got pregnant with Boobah at the beginning of 2003! That's a long time to go without sleep. Check back here on March 29 to hear my take on the book and progress in the 4 week program.