
If you’re struggling with insomnia, sleep deprivation, or snoring, try out these tips to sleep better.
Natural Sleep Aids for Insomnia and Snoring
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Valerian, available in capsules, is a mild sedative. Take an hour before bedtime, or at least four hours before you need to wake up. Hemp seed oil will also help you to relax, and as a bonus it helps reduce inflammation. Take it one hour before bedtime. It is legal in most states, but check your local laws. If it is sold in stores in your area it should be legal to take there. Some medications may make you sleepy, so take them a hour before bedtime. One of my blood pressure meds knocks me out, so I have to take it before bedtime. The same goes for my migraine medicine. Even so, with all of that help that usually knocks me out, there are nights when PTSD keeps me fully awake and reliving life’s nightmares. Fortunately they help more nights than not.
Read the Book--Breath--- As a mouth breather because I had enlarged tonsils as a youth and later had them removed (bad thing to do - better to discover the cause -- milk products), I became a mouth breather and all that goes with that. I learned to tape my lips shut with a product from SimplyBreathe on the internet. Will lower your blood pressure, help with sleep and may even move your teeth to their position.
"Don’t face the clock. Try removing clocks from your bedroom. Clock-watching can feed into the pattern of insomnia."
Yes, but what happens when you wake up briefly in the middle of the night? Most people do - more than once - even if they don't remember it. If the clock shows 3 AM, you know to just roll over and go back to sleep. If it's 6 AM the sun will be coming up soon, so if you planned to get up around that time anyway, why not stretch and get up right then? It's a lot less stressful than waiting for the alarm clock to go BLAAAAAAAAH! I agree, don't keep checking the clock and worrying that you aren't asleep yet; but I find it very helpful, in the middle of the night, to know how far I am from morning.
In the sleep myths link it mentions that counting sheep to help insomnia is a myth. No, it isn't. When I can't sleep I start counting backwards from 100. If I reach one, I start over again. Counting backwards occupies just enough of my brain to calm it down so sleep will come. It works for me about 75% of the time, which if you suffer from chronic insomnia, isn't bad.
IF I have trouble falling asleep and my mind is racing, I learned that when you concentrate on one thing you will drift of to sleep. What you do is concentrate on your in/out breathing----as you breathe in and out repeat the word "RELAX" in your mind. As you breathe in repeat in your mind "Reeee"----then as you breathe out repeat "Laxxx". Keep repeating in your mind and you will drift of to sleep in minutes.
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