People's Pharmacy

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No Way To Boost Bust Size

Posting Date: 02/21/2005

Q. I have a question about natural herbal supplements to help me sleep. I am in law enforcement and work shifts so I don?t have a steady pattern of sleep.

Is there anything that can help me get better sleep under these conditions and let me feel ok? I heard about valerian root and melatonin but don?t know enough about them.

A. Working different shifts often interferes with sleep. Sleep deprivation can slow reaction time and impair judgment. Shift workers are more susceptible to accidents as well as to ulcers and depression.

Melatonin has been used successfully to help people overcome jet lag, and it could be part of a program to help adaptation to shift changes. Valerian root can also help people relax and get to sleep.

We are sending you our Guide to Getting a Good Night?s Sleep for more information on natural approaches to sleep problems. Anyone who would like a copy, please send $2 in check or money order with a long (no. 10) stamped (60 cents), self-addressed envelope: Graedons' People's Pharmacy, No. I-70, P. O. Box 52027, Durham, NC 27717-2027.

Q. Do you have a suggestion to help my 11-year-old daughter stop biting her nails?

A. In many cases, nail-biting is a habit. She may need a reminder to change what she is doing unconsciously.

Some products that taste bad can be put on the nail as such a reminder. Stop-Zit and Control-It both may help a person alter this hard-to-break habit.

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In their column, Joe and Teresa Graedon answer letters from readers. Write to them in care of this newspaper or e-mail them via their Web site: www.PeoplesPharmacy.org. Their newest book is The People's Pharmacy Guide to Home and Herbal Remedies (St. Martin's Press).