If you are suffering from insomnia or sleep deprivation, simply can’t sleep, or are snoring, you might benefit from these natural sleep aids, which might help you sleep better.
What Is Insomnia?
Insomnia is having trouble falling asleep or getting back to sleep—or, waking up too early.
It’s natural for people to have trouble sleeping from time to time. Some common reasons are stress, a sick child, eating or drinking too close to bedtime, or certain medications. This is usually nothing to worry about, but it slows your thinking, makes it difficult to pay attention, and makes you feel cranky (which affects others)!
Not getting enough sleep for a long time, however, can cause long-term health problems. For example, it can make problems like diabetes and high blood pressure worse. If you have sleep issues that last most nights for 3 to 4 weeks or more, you need to consult a health professional. You may have a chronic case of insomnia; this issue is more common in women, people with depression, and people older than 60.
Another serious sleeping problem is sleep apnea, and there are also sleep disorders, such as narcolepsy, that can make you sleep during the day. Certain disorders like restless legs syndrome can keep you up all night even though they don’t directly impact sleep.
Insomnia can become a habit that your body easily adopts if you don’t try to put a stop to the cycle.
How to Sleep Better and Achieve Deep Sleep
It’s normal to take between 10 and 20 minutes to fall asleep. If you’re having trouble and this is not a chronic case, here are some common natural sleep remedies that may work better than counting sheep!
- Go to bed and get up at the same time each day. Humans crave structure and rhythm. Help your body find its natural rhythm.
- Get up and walk around. If you keep tossing and turning in bed for 20 minutes, try getting up. Take a walk or do something quiet.
- Sleep in a dark, quiet room that isn’t too hot or cold for you. Many readers suggest that a slightly cooler room is helpful for sleeping at night. A few readers add that the feet can’t be too cold, and it helps to warm them in a bath or with socks before bedtime.
- Don’t face the clock. Try removing clocks from your bedroom. Clock-watching can feed into the pattern of insomnia. If you need an alarm, put one outside your bedroom door.
- Don’t listen to sleep myths. If you tell people you struggle with insomnia, they might list off a string of ideas for how to make you sleep better. Before you take their advice, make sure that it’s not just a sleep myth.
- Work out early. Exercise is a good way to get rid of insomnia. However, exercising 2 to 3 hours right before going to bed will only keep you awake. So plan accordingly.
- Wind yourself down. In the 30 minutes before bedtime, wind down by doing something relaxing, such as listening to music. Don’t do bills or work right before you go to sleep! Turn off electronic devices, too.
- Skip the afternoon nap. Try to not take naps during the day because this can take away your ability to be able to have a deep sleep. If you do nap, don’t nap later than 3 P.M.
- Avoid caffeine, nicotine, beer, wine, and liquor in the 4 to 6 hours before bedtime.
- Don’t eat large meals within 2 hours of bedtime.
- Milk and turkey can help. Though large meals are not advised, try having a glass of milk an hour before going to sleep. If milk upsets your stomach, eat half of a turkey sandwich. The chemical tryptophan in both milk and turkey causes drowsiness.
- Your sleep position can also be important and affect your health. Check out this article to see how your position might be affecting your sleep.
- Consult your doctor. In some cases, taking medicine together with some changes to your routine can help most people with insomnia. Consult your health professional.
According for folklore: For insomnia, eat tomatoes, tangerines, or oranges.
How to Stop Snoring
Do you snore? Snoring is caused by vibrating in the throat. Some people can make changes that will stop snoring. These include:
- Losing weight
- Cutting down on smoking and alcohol
- Sleeping on your side instead of on your back
However, if you snore loudly and often and find that you are drowsy during the day, you may have sleep apnea. This is not uncommon, but it is dangerous because your breathing can stop during sleep. If you suspect you have sleep apnea, you should see your doctor.
People with sleep apnea tend to be overweight. It is more common among men than women. In many cases, doctors will recommend a device that pushes air through your airway, but in some cases, you may need surgery.
To learn more about insomnia, apnea, and other sleep disorders, see the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research.
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Natural sleep aids
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.
Sleep Aid
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.
Keep the Clock
"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.
Counting sheep
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.
Falling asleep
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.
Calm the nervous system
Alternative with others alike treatments people suffering from insomnia can take help from acupuncture as it calms the nervous system. Chinese herbs can also help promote a good sleep. Here is a relatively good read; https://www.philadelphia-acupuncture.com/oriental-medicine-for-insomnia-...
I'd been searching for some
I'd been searching for some time on how to fall asleep naturally and effortlessly, and I made of video of my findings:
how to fall asleep
It's not exactly remedies,
It's not exactly remedies, but I use and acupressure mat or an infrared heating pad when I have trouble sleeping - These work in 5 minutes. (http://www.natural-alternative...)
With some research, you will
With some research, you will find many herbal and/or natural products out there on the internet that will help you to relax and/or sleep.
Valerian root is a plant that will help to relax you & allow sleep to come naturally. It doesn't take much to put you in a state of slumber, but too much can cause problems for some who are sensitive. Be careful is all I'm saying.
Never pick anything from the wild unless you are 100% positive as to what it is, as many plants have poisonous parts or have poisonous relatives that look similar.
Sassafras tea also helps me
Sassafras tea also helps me to sleep...
Drink camomile tea.
Drink camomile tea.
I like the tea but I found
I like the tea but I found out more remedies here http://echohealing.com/insomni...
Get up and walk around. - No
Get up and walk around. - No that's what caused me to stay awake until 6 AM, then I couldn't get to work, because I couldn't get to sleep staying awake all night long.
Don't face the clock. - Yeah, but you still get up to go to the Kitchen to have a snack. And then I never heard the alarm in the morning.
Work out early. - My job was vigorous enough. I stayed in shape with that job.
Give yourself down time. - Why? Then nothing would get done when you have irregular sleep patterns.
Skip the afternoon nap. - Yeah, I did that one time. I almost killed me and both my daughters while driving in the car.
Milk and turkey can help. - An excuse to eat more and raise your sugar. It can put you comatose when you're a diabetic.
For insomnia, eat tomatoes, tangerines, or oranges. - Which are also high in Sugar content. Eat sparingly if you are a diabetic!
For True insomnia, please ask your Doctor to send you to a "Sleep Disorder Clinic." - I had a Doctor who told me to find another Doctor, "Because he couldn't find out what it was that was Plaguing me." Before I left as his patient... I asked him if he could send me for "A Sleep Disorder Test." He reluctantly set me up with an appointment. To me... I had all of the symptoms. He didn't see it, I was making up all of these excuses he said.
So 2 weeks later I had the "TEST" done.... I was nearly sent over to the E.R. Yes, I did have severe Sleep Apnea. Because you can't FAKE a test like that when you're asleep. I found myself a more competent Doctor 2 weeks after that test. Who treated me like a patient, not a whiner.