The Opinionator Blog over at NYTimes.com recently published a great article about insomnia titled, ‘A Thousand and One Sleepless Nights‘ – and it gave us a lot to think about.
First and foremost, we came away wondering whether 19th Century society had a better understanding of just how serious insomnia can be compared to the age we currently live in. Back then, insomnia was depicted as, ‘… a horrible torture,’ and something that could lead to insanity.
We don’t want to take things that far, but it does seem that back then insomnia was taken far more seriously compared to today – a time when almost everyone claims to suffer from insomnia after a single night of sleeplessness, and when insomnia sufferers are wary of mentioning their condition to others due to the lack of understanding most people have.
Are we walking backwards, or are we learning more about insomnia, and offering more hope to insomnia sufferers? Sure, these days we have sleeping tablets – but did you know that they only provide an extra 11 minutes of sleep compared to placebo pills?
Food for thought, indeed.
