Alternative Medicine for Sleep, Part 3: 2 More Natural Ways to Get Your Zs

By Dr. Ray Sahelian, MD

If you have no trouble staying asleep, but find yourself lying awake for hours before finally drifting off, you may have onset insomnia. Here are two herbs that can help:

• Hops - the herb that beer is made from. It can help induce sleep, but is not as good at maintaining sleep throughout the night. Many people find that hops have a sedating effect. A dosage of 300 to 600 mg is one option to try an hour or two before bed.

• Valerian - perhaps the best-known sleep-inducing herb. I find that about half of users like it, while the rest don't feel that it does much for them. Try 300 mg one to three hours before bed to see if it works for you.

When trying natural sleep aids, remember that dosage and timing can vary from person to person. Since you can develop a dependence on these supplements, refrain from taking any sleep aids more than three times per week.

It's Fun to Know: Wacky Warning Labels

By Suzanne Richardson

The fear of lawsuits can make people do crazy things. That includes putting ridiculous warning labels on their products.

Case in point: I bought a package of pre-cut celery at the grocery store. The label said something like "Pre-Cut, Pre-Washed Celery." Underneath, in smaller letters, it read: "Caution: May contain celery." I kid you not. (Sorry I didn't think to take a picture.)

The Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch keeps an eye out for crazy labels like this in its annual Wacky Warning Label Contest. This year - the contest's 11th - the winning label (found on a small tractor) read "Danger: Avoid Death."

(Source: mlaw.org)

Word to the Wise: Excrescence

An "excrescence" (ik-SKRESS-unts) is something - especially something abnormal - growing out from something else. The word is from the Latin for "to grow out."

Example (as used by Stephen Budiansky in U.S. News & World Report): "It wasn't just predictable curmudgeons like Dr. Johnson who thought the Scottish hills ugly; if anybody had something to say about mountains at all, it was sure to be an insult. (The Alps: 'monstrous excrescences of nature,' in the words of one wholly typical 18th-century observer.)"

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These articles appear courtesy of Early to Rise [Issue #2332, 04-17-08], the Internet's most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.