Treating Insomnia of Children

Whatever happened to warm milk?

Bet you didn't know this interesting factoid: There are NO DRUGS
(prescription or over-the-counter) that are currently approved for
the treatment of insomnia in children.

This doesn't stop mainstream doctors from prescribing them for
childhood sleep problems anyway, apparently. The results of a
survey published in the journal Pediatrics revealed that more than
50 percent of all primary care pediatricians have written
prescriptions for patent drugs for the treatment of sleeplessness in
children — and more than 75 percent have recommended over-the-
counter medicines for the same conditions!

And I'll bet you didn't know this, either: As many as one in four
children currently suffers from sleep problems.

Doesn't this sound a bit high to you? I'll wager it wasn't anywhere
near this high a ratio 30 years ago. Could it be because of all the
energy-spiking sugar and carbs we cram
into our kids — and all the time they spend in front of various
screens instead of outside running, playing, burning fat, and getting
tuckered enough to conk out at night? And
let's not forget SUNLIGHT DEPRIVATION — probably the most
important reason of all for childhood insomnia!

My question is this: Why don't conventional doctors simply
recommend some simple changes to these harmful dietary and
lifestyle trends instead of writing those prescriptions or
recommending Benadryl? I already know the answer: It's because
they've been brainwashed by all the "educational" propaganda put
forth by drug companies and their legislative lapdogs up on The
Hill. They honestly believe that these kids are sick — but the truth
is that they're just NOT TIRED.

But I'm both sick AND tired of all of this kind of quackery.  I'm
going to drink myself a glass of warm milk and get some sleep.
Maybe when I wake up I'll realize it was all just a
bad dream.

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Shrinking American medicine
 
The brain drain in American medicine is horrific. I first noticed it
20 years ago when I came up against the young doctors in HMOs
in Atlanta. The patients who came to me from the HMO clinics
would tell amazing stories of ignorance, incompetence, and large
doses of impertinence.

In the next 20 years this downward trend in American medicine
will accelerate. Here's why:
 
Dr. Mark Baldree of Phoenix, Arizona, was discussing career
counseling with his daughter. She told him that her counselor had
mentioned how competitive engineering and business schools are.
"Well, what about medicine?" he asked.
 
She replied: "None of the really smart or talented kids go into
medicine any more."

That about sums it up, doesn't it?