Many of us struggle, tossing and turning, with sleepless nights...you can't fall asleep, or you can't stay asleep??? I think everyone has this problem now and then. Taking a holistic, natural approach for improving your sleep patterns will work better in the long run than just taking a pill (even herbal ones). I have learned from my own experience that everyone sometimes needs help getting to sleep and staying asleep. Here are the supplements and lifestyle changes that have worked for me and people I know.
1. Drink moderately. Drinking alcohol before bed can disrupt sleep patterns leaving you awake in the middle of the night. Aside from the effects on your bladder, which can force you to get up in the middle of the night and drinking also alters the melatonin cycle, the hormonal cycle that moves in time with the natural rhythm of the earth (the sun and moon). If you are having problems with sleep perhaps skipping drinking all together for a few weeks along with implementing a few of these suggestions might get your sleep patterns back on track.
2. Medications. Along with controlling drinking alcohol, you should also be aware that medications can effect your normal sleep patterns. If you are taking medication for blood pressure or blood thinners you should ask your doctor if these can be contributing to your sleep problems. It's easy to fall into a viscous cycle of taking sleep medication that effects your natural cycles and sets you up for needing more sleep medication. If this is your pattern you should talk to a doctor. Try to find one with a respect for holistic approaches to sleep management who can help you better understand your alternatives. I'm not trying to prescribe to anyone (I'm not a doctor) but it's a pretty safe bet that sleep medication, over time, can have the opposite effect of what you want (which is to just fall and stay asleep) and make it harder for you to doze off without medication. Which leads me to the next topic, sleep aids.
3. Tart Cherry juice. This is my favorite sleep aid. Drink a small glass of tart cherry juice in the late evening. How does it work? Well cherry juice had both tryptophan (like turkey) and melatonin (the hormone that controls the sleep/wake cycle). Drinking cherry juice will let you sleep longer and deeper. When my sleep patterns are out of synch I reach for the cherry juice. Some people think it tastes good too! It has the added benefit of alkalinizing the body. This remedy was proven to work in elderly patients, in the study run by Louisiana University, a group of seven test subjects drank 2 8 oz. glasses of cherry juice (they used Montmorency in the trial) for a week, then a week with no juice, followed by a week of a placebo juice. Cherry juice was shown to increase overall sleep time and prevent waking in the middle of the night.
4. Exercise. Exercising, especially in the 4 hours before you go to bed, will help you relax and fall asleep easier. Different studies have recommended different types of exercise. I have found that gentle to moderate yoga works great for me. Others like aerobic exercise for at least 30 minutes. In either case the body relaxes after the exercise session is over and this level of relaxation contributes to your falling asleep easier and staying asleep longer.
5. Meditation. Meditation will help you sleep, it will help you think, it will help you breath better...actually there is nothing meditation can't help alleviate. Try it, learn it, do it. Regular meditation time (especially before bedtime) helps calm the mind (which is good for those of you saying,"I can't sleep because my mind keeps going around and around." ). Who hasn't heard about all the benefits of meditation that have been proven by science in the past 2 decades? A simple mindfulness meditation (i.e.paying attention to your breath for 10 minutes, feeling the air move through your body...there you are meditating!) is all that you need to reap the benefits. I'll give you a hint that better sleep is only one of them!
6. One more sleep aid. Lastly, I'll tell you about my favorite herbal sleeping pill. When all else fails this is what works for me. It may or may not work for you but it has fewer side effects and less residual grogginess than most 'sleeping pills'. It's inexpensive and is worth a try when all else fails. (Though if you are doing a combination of the above recommendations it's a certainty that you are falling asleep!) The herb I'm talking about is valerian root. You can buy valerian root capsules in a health food store (I get mine at Vitamin Shoppe). They are inexpensive and work pretty quickly, usually I'm asleep 20 minutes after taking one.
It's better to take a more holistic approach to solving the sleep dilemma but if you want results fast, the cherry juice and valerian root together are unbeatable! Then, once you are getting some actual deep sleep, maybe you'll feel like learning yoga and meditation to address the issue long term.
Sweet dreams!
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