About this episode
This episode explores the history of insomnia, the impact of hustle culture, and the use of Ambien as a sleeping aid.
Ever heard of neurasthenia, aka Americanitis? It was the first epidemic of the 20th century - and it's number one symptom was insomnia. It may have just been the electricity. In this episode of Drug Story, we step into that sweet oblivion called sleep, and that infernal torment called insomnia. We visit hustle culture, where sleep is just an obstacle to crushing it. And we learn about Ambien: the most popular sleeping pill ever invented. Until women started showing up in emergency rooms with amnesia... Sources for this episode [1] NEURASTHENIA, DEGENERACY, AND MOBILE ORGANS (1906) The British Medical Journal : Neurasthenia is defined by a state of "nervous exhaustion" and can include physical symptoms like head or spinal pain, insomnia, and constipation, along with mental depression. [2] Neurasthenia and a Modernizing America (2003) JAMA : Introduces neurasthenia after the Civil War as a nervous-energy disorder; the term declined in use after the 1930s. [3] ‘Americanitis’: The Disease of Living Too Fast (2016) The Atlantic : Frames neurasthenia as a disease of living too fast in industrializing America. [4] Insomnia and the late nineteenth-century insomniac: the case of Albert…
People in this episode
Host: Thomas Goetz
Topics covered
- insomnia
- Ambien
- neurasthenia
- hustle culture
- sleep disorders
Keywords
- insomnia
- Ambien
- neurasthenia
- sleep
- hustle culture
- sleep disorders
- Americanitis
Mentioned in this episode
Products: Ambien
Books & works: NEURASTHENIA, DEGENERACY, AND MOBILE ORGANS, Neurasthenia and a Modernizing America, ‘Americanitis’: The Disease of Living Too Fast, Insomnia and the late nineteenth-century insomniac: the case of Albert Kimball, A short history of insomnia and how we became obsessed with sleep
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