Dr. Nancy J. Pearson and her team analyzed information from the 2002 National Health Interview Survey to find out prevalence of sleeping disorder and that how often people suffering from it opt for alternative medicines.
Of those surveyed, 17.4 percent reported difficulty in sleeping over the past 12 months. The researchers found that 4.5 percent of those with sleeping troubles, or an estimated 1.6 million people, are using complementary and alternative medicine to help themselves sleep better.
Herbs and relaxation exercises were the most common remedies used to treat insomnia. Those who used alternative medicine for insomnia were mostly young and more educated people.
"Most respondents who used herbal therapies or relaxation techniques found these therapies helpful for managing their insomnia or trouble sleeping," Pearson and colleagues report in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Pearson and her team also found that people with anxiety or depression were more than five times more likely to suffer from insomnia. Congestive heart failure doubled the risk of sleeping problems. Hypertension and obesity were also found to be the reasons behind insomnia, but their effect was found to be at lesser degree.
They noted that sleeping troubles peaked among 45- to 54-year-olds, declined somewhat for older people, and then increased again among those 85 and older, contradicting a previous research that has suggested insomnia is most common among the elderly.
"Taken together, our data justify further research on the efficacy of these complementary and alternative medicine therapies to treat sleeping disorders such as insomnia and trouble sleeping," the researchers conclude.
