A Kidney Bean for Sleep?

Wow, it’s great to hear from so many of you.

And have we had some interesting feedback about insomnia problems.

This may be the most interesting feedback of all in regard to sleep disturbance:

“This is a hard to believe remedy for sleeping but it works.

I was amazed that taping a kidney bean to your wrist could do this.

My sister tried it and it worked for her so I tried it.

The real test was the full moon phase when I often don’t sleep well. I usually have to move my head to the foot of the bed so I can’t see the window in order to sleep half way decent. I slept through the whole full moon phase without sleeping at the foot of the bed. I have been doing this for approximately 1 month and have slept well every night.”

Well that e-mail stirred up my curiosity. I thought that taping a kidney bean to the wrist might activate an acupressure point. Sure enough, a Google search confirmed it.

Find this acupressure point on the inner side of your wrist three finger widths from the wrist crease. Place the kidney bean between the tendons at that point, securing it with tape or a soft elastic band. But avoid pressure that cuts off circulation. Then see how well you snooze.

I suspect any kind of bean about the size of a kidney bean will work. Does anyone want to experiment with beans and let us know?

Turns out you can buy a commercial band that just slips on your wrist if you want something more sophisticated. Search the web for “acupressure wrist band for sleep” to order a set.

A couple of other alternative remedies that some people find helpful for insomnia:

Taking magnesium just before bed time helps some folks sleep. But be careful with your dose because magnesium can cause increased bowel movements, even diarrhea. Actually it’s a good remedy for constipation too. Dr. Mercola thinks that taking calcium and magnesium at the same time at bed times works the best.

The scent of lavender or jasmine soothes some folks into a deep sleep for those of you who tolerate the scented stuff.

Then of course some herbal teas have that sleep inducing effect. (But drinking them before bed time increases the likelihood that my bladder will scream at me in the night to get up, so they don’t work so well for me, but they might for you.)

Chamomile and valerian are probably the most well known herbal sleep aids. You can read about other herbal sleep aids at:

http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/excessive-sleepiness-10/sleep-supplements-herbs

http://altmedicine.about.com/cs/conditionsitoq/a/Insomnia.htm

What better way to be wished off to sleep than by your little girl who said every night at bed time, “Sweet dreams, good night, I love you, I’ll see you in the morning.”  That little girl of ours is now grown with two children of her own. I’m sure she’s saying that to them now.

So,

Sweet dreams, good night, I love you, I’ll see you in the morning,

Dr. Jo