2025 was a year in which the health care world was turned upside down and inside out, as RFK Jr.’s MAHA (“Make America Healthy Again”) campaign went into full gear. Taking aim at the epidemic of obesity, diabetes, and other chronic disorders in our country, an arrow or two hit the target — warning of the dangers of ultra processed foods and “toxins” in the environment — while regulations to protect us from toxic chemicals have been decimated. Moreover, he and his cohorts have ignored the major causes of morbidity and mortality like deaths from gun violence, drug overdoses, alcohol, motor vehicle accidents, and poverty — with programs providing nutritional assistance, family support, child care all facing dramatic cuts.
And on Jan. 5, in a move condemned by the American Academy of Pediatrics and infectious disease experts around the world, the new CDC has deleted six of the 17 vaccines from the recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule, including the shot protecting us against influenza. The flu is now running rampant across the country; last year it killed 288 children in the U.S., almost all of them unvaccinated.
The irony is that MAHA stresses the benefits of “natural” and alternative therapies, like supplements which are largely unregulated, may have dangerous side effects, and are sold or endorsed by MAHA supporters and allies of RFK Jr. But, ironically, these proponents of complementary cures ignore integrative mind-body remedies. Therapies like mindfulness based meditation, self-hypnosis, and yoga are all easy to learn, inexpensive, without side effects, and backed by lots of scientific evidence.
Take sleep, for example — an essential bodily process which does or should take up one third of our life. Sleep is essential for having a healthy immune system, healing from illness, consolidating memory, and, of course, being alert during the day. Kids who do not get enough sleep suffer from mood and conduct problems, get lower grades, suffer more sickness, and are prone to obesity and drug addiction.
The reasons for sleep deprivation range from too much time spent with social media, a TV in the bedroom, too much noise or light, fear of the dark, not enough exercise or sunlight during the day, too much caffeine or other stimulants, and circadian cycle disturbances, especially common in teens. Stresses at home, school, or the workplace, neighborhood or domestic violence or drug abuse, homelessness, food insecurity can certainly affect sleep. Finally, kids and adults with ADHD, anxiety, depression, and phobias (to the dark, for example), are all prone to sleep problems.
The problem is that health care providers too often reach for the prescription pad when confronted with a wakeful patient. The meds include the short acting but still addictive derivative of Valium — Ativan, the various drugs advertised on TV with a glamorous model waking up fill of vim and vigor in the morning after her nightly dose of Ambien, and the antidepressant retooled as a sleep medicine — Trazodone. Or they may suggest the antihistamine Benadryl, the supplement melatonin or cannabidiol (CBD) gummies.
Melatonin as a sleep med is taken at a dose many times higher than that secreted by our pineal glands where it is naturally produced; like other supplements, it is unregulated by the FDA and may be adulterated with harmful substances. This supplement can help adjust the circadian cycle for sleepy teens or for those of us who cross time zones travelling.
But studies have shown melatonin and other medicines for insomnia do nothing to improve the amount of important REM (or dream) sleep. And they only increase the amount of total sleep by 20-30 minutes a day!
Furthermore, drugs and supplements for sleep may have many side effects ranging from daytime drowsiness to GI upset, dry mouth, headache, dizziness, increased insomnia, to, possibly, dementia.
The best prevention for sleep problems is treating the risk factors for poor sleep and having good sleep hygiene, which includes a regular bedtime, a relaxing bedtime ritual, and avoidance of stressful conversations before bed.
And the best treatments for sleep problems are behavioral. For infants and toddlers, there is sleep training. For older kids, there are simple techniques like “the second goodnight,” the “bedtime pass,” and the “OK to wake” light or clock.
If these are not enough, cognitive behavioral treatment for insomnia (CBTI), for children and adults, is very effective in changing one’s false assumptions about sleep and learning to decompress — not “trying” to sleep.
One simple and useful tool is slow relaxation breathing. Since I’ve used clinical hypnosis with young patients for decades, it was relatively easy for me to employ it when I was going through a stressful period in my life that resulted in insomnia. As is true for most adults, it took me six months of practice before it worked. Kids, with their more active imaginations, learn much faster. Now, if I awaken at night, I practice lovingkindness meditation, which I was fortunate to learn from the world renowned Buddhist author and teacher Sharon Salzburg. Afterwards, it’s as if I took a sleeping pill: I’m asleep as soon as I finish, then in dreamland until morning.
I’ve taught hundreds of young people how to examine their thoughts and let them go, by comparing them to clouds in the sky, or floats at a parade; for those recurrent thoughts, they can visualize a merry-go-round. Those bobbing painted horses just keep going round and around, but you can just notice them then see them go, just resting, (never “trying” to go to sleep) until the sand man comes to visit.
In a recent interview, Baystate Medical Center pediatric sleep specialist Dr. Eva Mok agreed with this protocol, adding that imagining trains choo chooing along has become another popular means of falling to sleep.
For many children, and adults, a lullaby or quiet music, a special story, a nightly prayer, a recounting of things one is graceful for, or the practice of forgiveness of those who hurt us during the day is very helpful.
Doesn’t this sound a lot cheaper, safer and more effective than using sleeping pills? Sleep is a natural biological process. Shouldn’t treatment be natural too? Utilizing the intimate connection between mind, body and spirit is a crucial step in truly making Americans healthier.
Dr. David Gottsegen of Belchertown is a pediatrician who focuses on the interrelationship between mind body and spirit. His book “Mending the Body with the Mind: Harnessing Kids’ Superpowers to Heal and Stay Healthy” was published on Nov. 25.