 Here we go again. We’re springing forward. Whoo hoo! Enter your own favorite sarcastic noise or eye roll here.
Why do they insist on messing with our body clocks like this? Despite the books (Downing 2009; Prerau 2006) and articles I have read about Daylight Savings Time, I still can’t make heads nor tails of why we are still engaging in this ridiculousness. Alas. 25% of the human population (in more than 70 countries), (Folyovich et al. 2020) endures this nonsense twice a year — resulting in “negative health effects, with 150,000 incidences in the US, and 880,000 globally” (Zhang et al. 2020). Even the American Academy of Sleep Medicine agrees with me, stating, “It is, therefore, the position of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine that these seasonal time changes should be abolished in favor of a fixed, national, year-round standard time (Rishi et al. 2020). Manfredini (et al. 2019) did a meta-analysis of Acute Myocardial Infarctions (heart attacks) and Daylight Savings and found the risk “increased significantly” after the spring shift. For further sleep deprivation research, see my previous article. If you’re like me, it doesn’t matter if you attempt to mitigate these effects by going to bed early or sleeping in… it’s when your body tells you it’s one time and you look at your clock and it tells you it’s another time. Yuck. Well, tomorrow morning (or afternoon — whenever the painful effects of this clock tinkering kick in), I plan on taking a dose of Hyland’s Awaken*: “Natural relief of fatigue, drowsiness and irritability.” Awaken is a little bottle of relief. Relief after a lousy night’s sleep or after having to wake early for an appointment or after a fun late night out or even as a result of travel between small distances between time zones… as well as from being compliant with this silly clock changing thing. [Is it apparent that I find this a great annoyance?] What causes this relief? Let’s look at what is in Hyland's formulation and why they included these homeopathic remedies (all in X potencies): Kali Phosphoricum Known as “one of the greatest nerve remedies” (Murphy n.d.) and is one of the original 12 Schuessler Cell Salts. Cell Salts are composed from the basic minerals that cells require (Cell Salt Tissues 2022). Kali phos is helpful for drowsiness and yawning, forgetfulness and irritability. Mezereum link to photo Is a pretty little flower, aka Spurge Olive — this homeopathic remedy is made from a tincture of the fresh bark just before it flowers in the spring. Mezereum can help with mental dullness, irritability, laziness, yawning and sleepiness, in general. Natrum muriaticum Is simply common salt and is another of the original 12 cell salts. Nat Mur (as it’s known) is notable in terms of sleepiness in the late morning, mental dullness with sleepiness and weakness from loss of sleep. Nat Mur is also an excellent headache remedy — another possible symptom following not getting enough sleep. Phosphoricum acidum As a homeopathic remedy is amazingly helpful in “collapsed states” (Morrison 1993). Waking up is difficult and sleepy by day, gloomy, dull and weakness with the sleepiness. Sepia Great sleepiness during the day as results from an unrefreshing sleep (which is bound to be the case when the powers that be have goofed with our clocks!) Staphysagria Sleepiness with: difficulty opening your eyes, indigestion and an inclination to lying down. Murphy (n.d.) notes “violent yawning and stretching bring tears to the eye.” Sulphur Headaches, even migraines, from a loss of sleep and overpowering sleepiness (specifically while working). Thuja occidentalis Also addresses headaches and sleepiness as well as restlessness and tossing about during sleep. Here’s to sweet dreams. Maybe if we all concentrate really hard we can make this clock changing thing disappear! Julia Coyte, CHom Classically Practical homeopath #wellnessawaits If you suffer regularly from poor sleep, contact me to see if homeopathy may be of help to you. * I have no affiliation with Hylands, I just like their product. I usually like to provide a link for remedies, but Hylands.com no longer shows it. I see it is still available on lots of other websites, though. Hmmm. I hope Hyland’s is not taking this remedy away! The good thing about homeopathy, though, is you can make your own mixture based on the remedies and even tailor it to your specific needs. Reference list Cell Salt Tissues, 2022. Buy Schuessler Salts | Cell Salts Tissue Salts World [online]. Downing, M., 2009. Spring forward : the annual madness of daylight saving. Berkeley: Counterpoint. Folyovich, A., Biczó, D., Jarecsny, T., Al-Muhanna, N., Jánoska, D., Béres-Molnár, K. A., Dudás, E., and Toldi, G., 2020. Daylight saving time and the incidence of thrombolysis to treat acute ischemic stroke. Revue Neurologique[online], 176 (5), 361–365. Manfredini, R., Fabbian, F., Cappadona, R., De Giorgi, A., Bravi, F., Carradori, T., Flacco, M., and Manzoli, L., 2019. Daylight Saving Time and Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Clinical Medicine [online], 8 (3), 404. Morrison, R., 1993. Desktop guide to keynotes and confirmatory symptoms. Accessed through Radar Opus. Nevada City, Calif.: Hahnemann Clinic Pub. Murphy, R., n.d. Homeopathic Remedy Guide. accessed through Radar Opus. Prerau, D. S., 2006. Seize the daylight : the curious and contentious story of daylight saving time. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press. Rishi, M. A., Ahmed, O., Barrantes Perez, J. H., Berneking, M., Dombrowsky, J., Flynn-Evans, E. E., Santiago, V., Sullivan, S. S., Upender, R., Yuen, K., Abbasi-Feinberg, F., Aurora, R. N., Carden, K. A., Kirsch, D. B., Kristo, D. A., Malhotra, R. K., Martin, J. L., Olson, E. J., Ramar, K., and Rosen, C. L., 2020. Daylight saving time: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine position statement. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine [online]. Zhang, H., Dahlén, T., Khan, A., Edgren, G., and Rzhetsky, A., 2020. Measurable health effects associated with the daylight saving time shift. PLOS Computational Biology [online], 16 (6), e1007927.
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 Sleep is too important to just throw it away, like we do twice a year. Daylight Savings Time affects your health. Period. End of discussion. We think the “fall back” isn’t as hard on the body and mind as the “spring forward,” but it’s still a thing (Harrison 2013). Every year this stupid practice screws me up for days. I instinctively knew this was the case and just a little bit of digging proved me right. Manfredini (et al. 2019) found a significantly higher risk of heart attack during the two weeks following the clock change. Poteser and Moshammer (2020) found during the week after the spring transition a significant increase in daily total mortality of about 3% per day was observed. Even simple things like making it to medical appointments is affected by this arbitrary clock change (Ellis et al. 2018). People assume falling back gives us an extra hour of sleep and is therefore a bonus, but research shows (Harrison 2013) there is little evidence of getting extra sleep on this night and in fact the early risings for the following days result in a net loss of sleep for the week. See! I told you Daylight Savings time was a bad idea! Homeopathy has many ways to address sleep problems, and, like all things homeopathy — choosing the “right” homeopathic remedy can be very specific to the individual and their sleep patterns and habits. But, from a practical homeopathic perspective, Coffea cruda 200c, twice a day, can often do more than an adequate job and may be all that is needed to help you get some good ZZZzzzzs. Coffea cruda really shines when your mind is keeping you from sleeping. (Think of Twitchy the squirrel from Hoodwinked.) Your mind is going a million miles a minute, flipping from subject to subject … when you just can't turn off your brain. Sleep that is easily disturbed (like from noises), when falling asleep is difficult and when waking too easily or even when startling in your sleep. Homeopathic Coffea cruda can also help with full blown insomnia, in general and more specifically insomnia following childbirth, or drinking too much coffee, or after too much excitement or after nursing sick loved ones and even sleeplessness from excessive joy! Do you see the pattern here? Your brain is working overtime in all these situations and keeping you from the elixir of sleep. Sleepless children, too, can benefit from Coffea cruda, either in general or when there has been too much excitement or even when the pain of teething is keeping them (and you!) awake. Not your busy mind keeping you up? Coffea cruda can also help to tame the interfering itching (as from a bug bite or eczema) or coughing -- shutting down the physical disturbance and allowing that much needed healing sleep. Don't underestimate both the power of sleep and the destructive nature of a lack of sleep. Your mind, your heart and your wellbeing depend on those hours of shutdown. Sleep well and don't let the bed bugs bite. (But, if they do, Coffea cruda can help you sleep through that, too!) Julia Coyte, CHom Classically Practical homeopath #wellnessawaits For more information on Daylight Savings Time -- how it came about and why it's still around, check out Spring forward : the annual madness of daylight saving by Downing, M., 2009. Berkeley: Counterpoint.* * I have no affiliation with this book, I just enjoyed reading it. REFERENCE LIST
Daylight Savings Time Ellis, D. A., Luther, K., and Jenkins, R., 2018. Missed medical appointments during shifts to and from daylight saving time. Chronobiology International [online], 35 (4), 584–588. Harrison, Y., 2013. The impact of daylight saving time on sleep and related behaviours. Sleep Medicine Reviews [online], 17 (4), 285–292. Manfredini, R., Fabbian, F., Cappadona, R., De Giorgi, A., Bravi, F., Carradori, T., Flacco, M., and Manzoli, L., 2019. Daylight Saving Time and Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Clinical Medicine [online], 8 (3), 404. Poteser, M. and Moshammer, H., 2020. Daylight Saving Time Transitions: Impact on Total Mortality. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health [online], 17 (5), 1611.pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28679595/ Homeopathy & Insomnia Harrison, C. C., Solomon, E. M., and Pellow, J., 2013. The effect of a homeopathic complex on psychophysiological onset insomnia in males: a randomized pilot study. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine [online], 19 (5), 38–43. Hellhammer, J. and Schubert, M., 2013. Effects of a homeopathic combination remedy on the acute stress response, well-being, and sleep: a double-blind, randomized clinical trial. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine (New York, N.Y.) [online], 19 (2), 161–169. Michael, J., Singh, S., Sadhukhan, S., Nath, A., Kundu, N., Magotra, N., Dutta, S., Parewa, M., Koley, M., and Saha, S., 2019. Efficacy of individualized homeopathic treatment of insomnia: Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial. Complementary Therapies in Medicine [online], 43, 53–59. Naudé, D. F., Stephanie Couchman, I. M., and Maharaj, A., 2010. Chronic primary insomnia: Efficacy of homeopathic simillimum. Homeopathy [online], 99 (1), 63–68. Waldschütz, R. and Klein, P., 2008. The homeopathic preparation Neurexan vs. valerian for the treatment of insomnia: an observational study. TheScientificWorldJournal[online], 8, 411–420. Sleep & Health Lyall, L. M., Wyse, C. A., Graham, N., Ferguson, A., Lyall, D. M., Cullen, B., Celis Morales, C. A., Biello, S. M., Mackay, D., Ward, J., Strawbridge, R. J., Gill, J. M. R., Bailey, M. E. S., Pell, J. P., and Smith, D. J., 2018. Association of disrupted circadian rhythmicity with mood disorders, subjective wellbeing, and cognitive function: a cross-sectional study of 91 105 participants from the UK Biobank. The Lancet Psychiatry [online], 5 (6), 507–514. Minkel, J. D., Banks, S., Htaik, O., Moreta, M. C., Jones, C. W., McGlinchey, E. L., Simpson, N. S., and Dinges, D. F., 2012. Sleep deprivation and stressors: Evidence for elevated negative affect in response to mild stressors when sleep deprived. Emotion [online], 12 (5), 1015–1020. Pillai, J. A. and Leverenz, J. B., 2017. Sleep and Neurodegeneration. Chest [online], 151 (6), 1375–1386. Sprecher, K. E., Koscik, R. L., Carlsson, C. M., Zetterberg, H., Blennow, K., Okonkwo, O. C., Sager, M. A., Asthana, S., Johnson, S. C., Benca, R. M., and Bendlin, B. B., 2017. Poor sleep is associated with CSF biomarkers of amyloid pathology in cognitively normal adults. Neurology [online], 89 (5), 445–453. |
Julia Coyte, CHomI am passionate about homeopathy and I love sharing this passion. Having a working knowledge of homeopathy shouldn't be kept a secret. If people have the ability to help themselves, their children and their friends when they have minor ailments, life just gets better for everyone. That is the purpose behind Ruminating on Remedies. Archives
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