Sleep for Sale: Is insomnia the next big disease needing drug therapy?

From the latest issue of Mother Jones (ideologically not my kind of magazine, but, oddly enough, I think I probably read more left-wing and liberal magazines than conservative magazines), an interesting article on the marketing of sleeping pills for the weary and whether it's going to be an example of overblown pharmaceutical company advertising in the near future. The main problem, as I see it, is that the benefits of these drugs are surprisingly modest and will no doubt be exaggerated in the marketing campaigns. Also, two out of the three new drugs are related to Ambien, which has some problems of its own, mainly if the patient takes it too soon before wanting to go to sleep, as it can cause confusion and amnesia if you take it and stay awake. (Tip of the hat to Majikthise, whose blog I just discovered, for the tip. Given that she's linked to me in her blogroll, the least I can do is to return the favor.)

Thus endeth my rare three day weekend off taken to celebrate good news, during which time I did very little (intentionally and joyously). All that's left is to order Chinese food and watch 24. (I can't wait to see how Jack Bauer gets out of the mess he got himself into during the cliffhanger ending of last week's episode.) Blogging will no longer be nearly as manic as it has been over the last three or four days. It's back to the real world tomorrow. Fortunately, I've already written a few pieces for the next week, the first of which will be posted tomorrow.