NEW YORK — One in six Americans frequently have difficulty falling asleep, and 4.5 percent of them use some type of alternative medicine to treat their sleeping problems, a new study shows. ‘Most respondents who used herbal therapies or relaxation techniques found these therapies helpful for managing their insomnia or trouble sleeping,’ Dr. Nancy J. Pearson and colleagues from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland report in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Pearson and her team analyzed information from the 2002 National Health Interview Survey to find out how common sleeping difficulties were and how often people used alternative techniques to treat them. Of those surveyed, 17.4 percent reported that, over the past 12 months, they regularly had difficulty falling asleep or suffered from insomnia. The researchers found that 4.5 percent of those with sleeping troubles, or an estimated 1.6 million people, are using complementary and alternative medicine to help themselves sleep better. Herbs and relaxation exercises were the remedies most commonly used. About 60 percent of those who used alternative medicine for insomnia said they told their doctor they had done so. Alternative medicine use was more common among […]