Insomnia

...ba href=/insomnia/a/b, so I hit those sales like a desperate woman, and I bought every little chapbook I could get my fingers on.Q: What attracted you to Ron Rash's books?

A: His books of poetry mentioned the Jocassee, and it was a region that I grew up in.

I didn't know that there was someone who was writing this amazing poetry about an area that I knew so well.

And then at the same, I got home, and someone had sent me a letter asking me if I would read, "The World Made Straight," which is his new novel.Q: Do you think there's more poetry in mountain people, rural people and poor people than there is in comfortable middle-class people?

A: Well, yeah - I'm all those first three (laughs).

I clawed my way into the last category, but I don't know if I can stay here.

Because we have so few other resources, the poetry becomes a way of surviving our lives and valuing our lives.Q: So, for the characters in your book, poetry is their salvation?

A: To a large extent, yeah.

And it's a kind of red-dirt poetry.

Do you know what I mean?

Q: Well, what is red-dirt poetry?

A: Well, it's a language based on living close to the land and living close to the margin.

You have to be pretty clear about what you value when you have very little, and everything that you have is endangered all the time.

It requires you to make some rather horrible judgments about your own life and the lives of those you love.

That leads you to a kind of gospel glory ...

The poems that I fell in love with that Ron Rash put in "Among t...

...ba href=/insomnia/a/b "cure," however, shouldn't be the first course of action, says a Purdue University expert.

"When new products come out on the market, doctors tend to rely upon them because samples are readily available and doctors are short on time," says Gail Newton, an associate professor of pharmacy practice in Purdue's School of Pharmacy.

"One of the main factors in patients seeking these prescriptions is the constant direct-to-consumer advertising by the makers of these medications that is full of symbolism, but low on content, promising a great night's sleep.

"The fact is that for most suffering from occasional ba href=/insomnia/a/b, behavioral changes or over-the-counter options are often just as effective and more appropriate." This year's National Sleep Foundation's Sleep Awareness Week is March 27 through April 2.

A poll by the organization last year found that about half of the respondents experienced at least one symptom of ba href=/insomnia/a/b at least a few nights a week within the previous year.

A third had experienced at least one symptom every night or almost every night.

Another poll released last year by a managed-care company found that the use of prescription sleeping medications among adults doubled from 2000 to 2004.

Newton says this trend is troublesome because, while not physically addictive, newer sleep aids can be psychologically habit-forming.

She says this creates a situation in which people feel like they can't sleep without the drug, even though they physically might be a...

...ba href=/insomnia/a/b "cure," however, shouldn't be the first course of action, says a Purdue University expert.

Newswise — Studies show that many Americans are struggling to get a good night's sleep, and an increasing number of those people are turning to fast-acting prescription sleep aids.Seeing a doctor for an instant ba href=/insomnia/a/b "cure," however, shouldn't be the first course of action, says a Purdue University expert."When new products come out on the market, doctors tend to rely upon them because samples are readily available and doctors are short on time," says Gail Newton, an associate professor of pharmacy practice in Purdue's School of Pharmacy.

"One of the main factors in patients seeking these prescriptions is the constant direct-to-consumer advertising by the makers of these medications that is full of symbolism, but low on content, promising a great night's sleep."The fact is that for most suffering from occasional ba href=/insomnia/a/b, behavioral changes or over-the-counter options are often just as effective and more appropriate."This year's National Sleep Foundation's Sleep Awareness Week is March 27 through April 2.

A poll by the organization last year found that about half of the respondents experienced at least one symptom of ba href=/insomnia/a/b at least a few nights a week within the previous year.

A third had experienced at least one symptom every night or almost every night.Another poll released last year by a managed-care company found that the use of prescription sleeping medications...