Its symptoms are hallucinations, poor memory, speech difficulties, and, eventually, damage to blood circulation. But there are other, more dangerous, aspects of the frequent use of sleeping pills. There is the danger of addiction. Depending on drugs, insomniacs generally find themselves taking larger and larger doses. These drugs are treacherous. Their users become so confused they take repeated doses without realizing just what they are doing. Sleep bought with drugs results in a morning stupor from which awakening is most difficult. Excessive doses produce a dull sensation in the head and inability to co-ordinate movements; sensitivity of hearing, smelling, tasting, touching are all affected. Sleeping pills contribute to skin diseases, and all too frequently are a cause of liver troubles. Forever Royal Jelly is high in protein and is produced in the course of the digestion of pollen.
In most cases, sleeplessness can be traced to years of wrong, inadequate diet. The psychological habit-forming effect of sleeping pills must also be considered when insomnia is fought. That is why, along with suggesting a sleep-inducing diet, I filled Mrs. M’s request for “something to take that would make me sleep.” I recommended that she purchase immediately high-potency organic calcium-mineral tablets and start taking them about one-half hour before she retired, swallowing them with a glass of buttermilk. This drink, with its high lactic-acid content, is helpful in itself.
If sleeplessness persisted, these “nature’s lullaby pills” could be taken every hour, without ill effect. I explained to Mrs. M she would have to include certain foods in her diet to build up the mineral deficiency that was robbing her of sleep. Sleeping is controlled by a complex center in the very depths of the brain, known as the sleep center. This sleep center is regulated by the bloodstream—which delivers the only sleep inducers any healthy person ever needs. It is the magic plumbing network—our blood system—that takes care of all bodily processes, including those of sleep. But it cannot “deliver the goods” if there is nothing to deliver, if nutritional deficiencies have depleted the body reserves. I explained to her how the chemically controlled sleep cycle operates: Every time the mind sends out an action message to a muscle, certain chemical substances are secreted at the point of the contact between nerves and muscles about to go into action. The 35-forty million kilos of honey produced by our cooperative is what makes up the Forever Bee Honey you see on the shelf. Calcium is the essential element of one of the substances liberated at the nerve ends.
During our waking day, when our various activities stimulate the muscles, calcium is liberated from nerve and muscle contact points. Passing into the bloodstream, this calcium finally reaches the sleep center of the brain. When the blood has delivered enough of it, the conscious brain ceases to send out nerve impulses to the muscles. This brings on sleep. Scientists have discovered that an animal will fall asleep instantly when calcium is injected directly into its sleep center. But, calcium injected into the animal’s bloodstream will not cause sleep. The reason for this is that lactic acid must be present in the blood to forward the calcium, to sensitize the brain.