Top 7 Natural Sleeping Aids to Help You Through Those Long Nights
After a recent article I published about disorders that may be causing some of you to be having trouble sleeping, I wanted to follow-up with a list of natural sleeping aids that may help you get a better nights sleep.
Anyone who has flipped through a newspaper or caught a few minutes of the local news has surely heard the ridiculous amount of side effects associated with all of these sleeping medications on the market. Aside from the long list of side effects, many of them are also very addictive, which only leads to further complications. So my question to you is, why put your health in jeopardy(not the game show) to get a good nights sleep, when you can use safe and natural sleeping aids to do the same thing?
Your answer to my question might be that you don’t believe in natural remedies, but I will tell you that it is in your best interest to at least give them a try before you rule them out. So without further ado, here is my list the top 7 natural sleep aids, hopefully they help:
A Warm Glass of Milk: Often thought to be an old wives tale, many of us remember back to childhood when our mom would give us a warm glass of milk to help us get to sleep. Well guess what, it really does work. Milk, along with most other dairy foods contain an amino acid called Tryptophan, which your body converts to Melatonin and Serotonin, both of which are believed to induce sleep. One word of advice here, this works best on an empty stomach, protein for instance will counteract the Tryptophan and not work.
Turkey Sandwich: Turkey is again, a great source of Tryptophan as mentioned above. Tryptophan is one of the most common sleep inducers and surprisingly, has been proved to work very well in various sleep studies conducted around the world.
Chamomile Tea: The dried flowers of the Chamomile plant are often used to make a hot tea that is believed to have many healing properties. One of those properties is Chamomile’s unique ability to serve as a relaxant and sleep inducer. Chamomile was used by Ancient Egyptians and early European civilizations as a cure for insomnia among other health problems. Chamomile tea can be purchased at virtually every grocery store in the country as well as online. Fresh chamomile is the most potent and thus seems to work the best, but tea bags should work also, if that is what is available to you at the time.
Valerian Root: The use of Valerian root has been traced back as far ancient Greece. Hippocrates wrote about its therapeutic uses and at one point in the 2nd century, Galen prescribed Valerian root for insomnia. With such a distinct past, it is not surprising that several different studies suggest that Valerian root one of the best natural sleeping aids on the market today. You can buy Valerian root online through several retailers, and you can also find it in your local health food and supplement stores.
Melotonin: Melatonin is produced naturally within our bodies by what is called the Pineal gland. The pineal gland is a small pea sized gland in the center of the brain. At night, Melatonin is produced to help our bodies regulate our sleep and wake cycles. Melatonin supplements, however, are manufactured herbal supplements that are designed to avoid the side effects that are associated with many non natural sleep aids. Modern research shows that when taken at night, Melatonin supplements battle insomnia, by making it easier to sleep through the night.
Sleep Fix: Sleep Fix contains homeopathic ingredients designed to relieve the occasional symptoms of difficulty falling asleep, waking during the night, sleeplessness, and poor sleep quality. The homeopathic ingredients are formulated in strict compliance with the Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States. Sleep Fix also contains a base of relaxing botanicals and 1 mg of Melatonin per dose.
Reading without enough light: While this method is not recommended to cure your insomnia all of the time, it will help you get to sleep in a pinch. When you read a book or magazine without the proper amount of light, you cause your eyes and brain to work much harder at trying to focus in on the text in front of you. This extra workload serves very well as a means to wear down your brain and help you get to sleep. This is why so many people read before bed, they might not realize it, but it usually isn’t the book itself that makes them sleepy, but rather the lack of good lighting as they are reading. Overtime, this method can cause problems with your vision due to the increased strain on your eyes, but as I said before it does work as a last resort.
Hopefully after reading this article, you will be able to put your new found knowledge of natural sleeping aids to work and get a good nights sleep. Sweet Dreams!
Tags: chamomile tea, having trouble sleeping, herbal remedies, herbal sleeping aids, insomnia, natural remedies, natural sleeping aids, relaxant, sleep, sleep inducer, sleep medication, sleeping, sleeping medication, tryptophan, valerian root