You're not you when you're tired

Today, I decided to use a medication I know a lot of my friends have taken, Tylenol PM. These are the ingredients found in it

1)         Acetaminophen 500 mg

a.          A pain killer

2)         Diphenhydramine

a.          Antihistamine. It’s typically used to treat allergy problems. But since one of it’s side effects is drowsiness, it is also used to help people fall asleep.

The reason I picked Tylenol PM is because this winter, I travelled to Paris. The time difference is 7 hours ahead and since we’d be getter into Paris at 7 am (midnight in Minnesota) it was important to get good sleep on the airplane. I noticed that several people around me to and from Paris were all popping Tylenol PM to help them fall asleep. I thought it was a bit strange considering they’re taking a pain killer to help them go to bed. I still think it’s weird. Here’s the advertisement for Tylenol PM “You’re not you when you’re tired.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJqyMZGwJJ8

What is the point of this advertisement? Sleep is important for us. If we don’t get enough sleep, we’ll be feeding our dogs coffee beans and staring aimlessly at our garage. We’re wasting time and not being productive or efficient. We’re messing up on easy tasks.

But what if my (acute) pain is keeping me up?

Don’t worry, Tylenol PM will get rid of your pain and help you fall asleep faster. Say goodbye to making mistakes and being inefficient. Go back to being you. The real you.

But what if I don’t have any pain?

You can still take it! It’ll help you fall asleep and only mildly damage your liver!

Personally, I’ve had a lot of issues with sleeping since I was a kid. I still do. A usual night, it takes me 40 minutes to an hour to fall asleep and I typically have 4-6 nights a month I just can’t fall asleep. However, I don’t take sleep medication. I think as a country, we fall too quickly on medical interventions to help with our needs. A skinny pill, a hypertension pill, even a sleep pill. This advertisement covers exactly that. But do we ever address the root cause? What is really causing these problems? What are real steps that I can take to improve this situation?

For me, sometimes I stay awake because my mind races at night. I’ve realized writing before bed helps me shut off my mind. I don’t ever sit or use my bed unless I’m trying to sleep. That was I associate my bed with sleeping. I also love lavender essential oils and it promotes sleep (apparently). Or, you can take a pill and help you fall asleep. You decide what you want to do.