Insomnia: The A, B, Zzzz's of Getting More Sleep

Want to make a lot of money? Come up with a cure for insomnia. According to a new report from Datamonitor, last year alone drug companies made $6 billion on sleep aids designed to help people catch more shut-eye. That amount is expected to grow significantly over the next year. Datamonitor, with offices in London, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo and Sydney, is a leading provider of online data, analytic and forecasting research for seven major industry sectors. Their insomnia report included data from the United States, Germany and Japan, and its research indicates that sales of sleep aids will hit nearly $8 billion by 2016.

The increase in sales will be due, in part, to the aging of the population. Insomnia isn't going to disappear anytime soon because people are getting older, and as they age, they have more trouble sleeping. Plus, demands on our time continue to increase. Technology has made us a 24/7 society, which means it's harder for us to shut off and catch those much-needed Zs.

Treating insomnia is not a simple proposition. In fact, it can be downright dangerous as we've seen in recent news reports. In March 2007, the Food and Drug Administration ordered warnings for sleep drugs after Representative Patrick Kennedy crashed his car after taking Ambien along with another sedative-like drug. It was discovered that all prescription sleeping pills can cause sleep-driving as well as other dysfunctional sleep-related behaviors like making phone calls and preparing and eating food. Sleeping pills can also cause life-threatening allergic reactions. Not to mention that some sleep medication can be highly addictive.

Drug makers continue to work diligently to come up with the "magic bullet" of sleep aids, but in the meantime, millions of us are dealing with serious fatigue. Although sleep requirements vary depending on the person, the general rule of thumb is that adults need seven to eight hours of sleep. Unfortunately, we are falling short of that minimum amount. So, how do we get more rest while waiting for the drug companies to create the next best pill?