Natural Sleep Remedies

How do you sleep?

With these natural sleep remedies you could be sleeping like a baby in no time. A much better option than sleeping pills.

If you have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or waking unrefreshed you will be feeling moody and irritable.
Left unresolved, lack of sleep can have serious consequences for your health and relationships.

So let’s take a look at what can be done to induce a sound nights sleep.

Most of us have pretty busy lifestyles today and it’s tempting to fill every waking moment with work, organising, socialising helping and more. I try to remember that overworking and then not sleeping makes me less productive. I hope the guidelines and natural sleep remedies below will help you get a healthy 7 to 8 hours sleep per night.

Your Bedroom

Make it a place you feel completely relaxed in. Use colors and fabrics that make you feel good and avoid piles of paperwork, TV or computer. These all stimulate the mind and will definitely hinder a peaceful sleep.

A gentle aromatherapy fragrance can calm and help to induce sleep. Experiment to find the one that is best for you. Perhaps a blend with lavender because it also helps to relieve aches and pains that may be preventing sleep.

Darkness keeps your mind in sleep mode so heavy curtains or blinds are a good idea. Ventilation is important too as you will wake if it gets too warm. If you can’t shut out noise then try using soft relaxing music whilst you fall asleep. Make sure your bed is big enough and the pillows are right for you. If you need to replace something it might be the best investment you have made in a while.

A Sleep Ritual

This will help your body to get into sleep mode. Do something quiet and relaxing before turning in. Reading, listening to music or chatting with your mate. A short soak in a warm tub with a luxurious moisturizing bath oil is so relaxing and gives your skin a treat too.

When I first began writing this website I often thought of something I wanted to look up on the computer late at night. This had disastrous results, the idea went around in my head all night and I woke with it the next morning.
So try to turn off the TV and computer early enough to relax. Limit naps during the day and get used to going to bed at about the same time most nights. Routine is the easiest natural sleep remedy to implement and pays off in quality sleep time

Visualisation and Meditation

These are excellent ways to take your mind away from worries, fears and tomorrows schedule. A very simple nightime meditation is to go through your body focusing on how each part feels. Begin at your toes and work up slowly to the top of your head. By gently guiding your thoughts you can gradually learn to shut out all the other niggly thoughts that otherwise keep you awake.

Guided visualisation sessions designed to help you fall asleep ae available on CD. Most people never get to follow one of these right through to the end before falling asleep. It’s important though to find one with music that you like and a voice that is relaxing for you.

Sleep Sound is a remarkable audio insomnia remedy that helps you to drift off to sleep easily and quickly…. What you hear is music or nature sounds but embedded in the music is an audio technology that will calm your mind, guide you into a deep restful sleep and help you to sleep until morning… You will wake feeling refreshed, energetic and looking forward to the day ahead.”

Eat to Beat Insomnia

Eat dinner a little earlier. If you must eat late then eat light! Caffeine is a stimulant so avoiding coffee in the evening will help. Alcohol is thought to be relaxing but can often have the reverse effect, seriously disrupting sleep patterns and causing all manner of side effects.

Changing your drinking habits could be beneficial to your sleep and many other areas of your life. Apart from causing awful wrinkles 🙁 cigarettes are strong stimulants and smokers can have withdrawal symptoms during the night.

Eating tryptophen rich foods with some carbs instead of heavy fatty foods is recommended. Turkey, fish, salmon, seafood, tofu and nuts, with wholemeal pasta, brown rice and green vegetables, but keep the portions on the smaller side.
Eating these super foods is also anti aging, healthy and good for your weight balance.
Calcium helps relax muscles so a glass of milk is good before going to bed or experiment with herbal teas. Some are said to have a sedative effect.

One of the best Natural Sleep Remedies.. Exercise!

This is the next and you might think most unlikely suggestion but some exercise taken earlier in the day can have you whacked out by evening. Not only is exercise healthy but it’s one of the best natural sleep remedies there is.

On my page the Definition of Wellness you’ll find lots of ways to bring more balance into your life. Maybe your perfect answer is waiting for you there.

Most of these natural sleep remedies are simple to apply and cost little but don’t under estimate their effectiveness. I know because sometimes a problem or even my enthusiasm for a new project has kept me awake the whole night. I truly recommend that the next time you say “I can’t sleep,” think carefully about where you could be going wrong and sabotaging a perfectly good nights sleep!