If you think you might be struggling with getting good sleep, read on for 34 natural home remedies that you can try today to get some well-deserved rest.
1. Follow a Proper Eating Schedule
It is tough to try to sleep with an empty stomach but it is a bad idea to go to bed with a full stomach. Have your last meal no less than 3 hours before your bedtime to give your digestive system enough time to digest your meal before snoozing. If you have to snack right before bedtime, try a small high-protein, a low-carb snack such as a hard-boiled egg or Greek yogurt to help regulate your blood sugar levels as you sleep. Also, avoid taking in too much liquid before bedtime to minimize the need to wake up for bathroom runs.
2. Eat These for Better Sleep
Foods that are high in calcium, magnesium, potassium, omega-3 fatty acids DHA and melatonin are great foods for better sleep. Calcium, magnesium, and potassium together promotes muscle relaxation and can improve your chances of better sleep. So try snacking on almonds, walnuts and bananas. Melatonin helps you sleep. So try having some tart cherries as a snack. Research has also shown that having adequate levels of omega-3 fatty acids DHA in your body can promote better sleep. So have some salmon, tuna or mackerel as your dinner protein choice.
3. Eliminate These Foods for Better Sleep
You already know that caffeine, alcohol and fatty foods are bad for you and here is another one – poor sleep. So try to limit or eliminate these from your diet. Spicy foods are not bad if they are low in sugars and other food additives. But avoid consuming spicy foods close to bedtime to reduce your risks of another heartburn or acid reflux episode for better sleep. Other foods to avoid before bed include caffeine or caffeine-rich stuff, alcohol, and fatty or greasy foods.
4. Take Care of Digestive Issues
Digestive issues such as bloating, heartburn and constipation can make it uncomfortable and hard to sleep at night. And unfortunately, lack of sleep can worsen your stomach problems. To find out if digestive and gut issues are affecting your sleep, contact me for a comprehensive review. My practice offers various digestive lab tests that can help us better understand your digestive and gut health.
5. Avoid Foods You are Sensitive To
Avoid consuming foods that you are sensitive to close to bedtime to eliminate your chances of having to deal with heartburn or acid reflux right before you try to calm down and wind down for the day. Get a food sensitivity test done to rule out any hidden food allergies or sensitivities.
6. Herbal Therapies for Better Zzz’s
Herbal teas or oral supplements before bedtime can be relaxing. For example, drinking chamomile tea or sleepy tea containing amino acids called L-theanine can boost neurotransmitters that promote relaxation and better sleep. Herbs like passionflower or valerian root can have the same effect. Here’s an effective herbal supplement combination called Insomnitol ™ which is highly recommended for more restful sleep.
7. Exercise for Deeper Sleep
Exercise can support deeper sleep at night and prevent insomnia. However, exercising too close to bedtime can have the opposite effect by raising your body temperature and heart rate making it harder to wind down and get restful sleep.
8. Lose Excessive Weight
Excess fat, especially around your neck, can compress your upper airway and trigger snoring and breathing difficulties when you sleep. Try losing some weight through exercise and a good diet and you will be surprised how that can improve your sleep quality.
9. Fix Hormonal Imbalances
Hormonal imbalances can lead to conditions such as hot flashes that can impact the quality of your sleep, which can further worsen your hormonal imbalance. Work with me to get a better understanding of your hormones to see if hormonal imbalance is the cause of your sleeping problems. My practice offers hormonal testing and I can work with you to design a sleeping regiment/solution that works for your unique situation.
10. Practice Yoga or Light Stretching
Practicing light stretching or yoga before bed can help relax your mind and body for a better night’s rest. Whether taking a class or practicing at home, strive for at least 1 to 3 times a week in order to reap the optimal benefits yoga offers.
11. Meditation and Deep Breathing
Incorporate this into your daily yoga routine or just meditate. Meditation promotes deep concentrated breathing for optimal relaxation of your mind and body. Practicing meditation over time can help to reduce your stress and promote overall well being.
12. Get Your Adrenals Checked
If you find yourself feeling sluggish all the time even though you are getting the recommended amount of sleep, you might be experiencing adrenal fatigue. Adrenal fatigue results when your adrenal glands function below the necessary levels, usually due to long-term stress and can result in other medical conditions such as bronchitis, flu, and pneumonia. The good news is there are simple lab tests that can determine if you are experiencing adrenal fatigue. You can work with a professional nutritionist like myself for these adrenal lab tests.
13. Unplug from Electronic Devices
Electronics, with their blue glaring light and endless alerts, can overstimulate a restless mind. Start putting away your electronic devices such as cellphones, laptops, and television at least an hour or 2 before bedtime. Studies have shown that the artificial bright light emitted from these electronic devices can disrupt brain activity and alter your sleep hormones like melatonin. Supplementing with a supplement called Melatonin SRT™ can help boost your melatonin levels for a more restful sleep. [1]
14. Clear your mind
It is hard to snooze off when you have too much on your mind. Hard as it may be to stop thinking about the things that keep you up at night, try to clear your mind at least temporarily for the night through techniques such as journaling as a way of relieving your mind of the heavy load. Learn how to “switch” your mind off.
15. Calm Your Busy Brain
A busy mind is the enemy of deep restful sleep. When your thoughts are scattered, it disrupts your ability to power-down and eventually ruining your chances of entering deep sleep stages. Try different techniques to reign in your thoughts and relax. If meditation is not your thing, try things that require you to focus, such as counting sheep. You can also support the production of calming neurotransmitters by trying a supplement called NeuroCalm™, which may help support healthy mood, cravings, and feelings of calm, satiety, and satisfaction. It is designed to promote the activity of GABA and serotonin.
16. Prayer and Gratitude
Regardless of your chosen faith, engaging in prayer before bed can be very helpful as well. Focusing all that you have to be thankful for in your life can increase the amount of “happy” neurotransmitters in your brain and can set you up for a great night’s sleep.
17. Music Therapy
Listening to gentle and calming music before bedtime can improve sleep quality, decrease nightly awakenings, and lengthen sleep time. I recommend investing in an affordable good old CD player instead of using your phone as your music player. The radiation from your phone can disrupt your sleep.
18. Set a Comfortable Bedroom Temperature
Sleeping in a room that is either too warm or too cool can interfere with your body’s ability to drift off into sweet sleep. Set your bedroom thermostat to somewhere between 60 and 67 degrees Fahrenheit, whichever is most comfortable for you.
19. Restful Ambient Lighting
Exposure to artificial light, TVs, and electronic gadgets tells our brain that it is daytime and throws off our circadian rhythms. Many light bulbs, particularly LED bulbs, also emit a harsh blue light that sends a signal to our brain to stop producing melatonin, a hormone that helps you sleep. To get our bodies back in sync, we need to ensure that our light exposure occurs during the day and when it is time to sleep, we have a dark environment. Try replacing the bulb in your bedside table with one that has a depleted blue spectrum.
20. Soothing Colors for your Bedroom
Colors can reinvent your space, from wall paint to furniture and fixtures. Stay away from busy wallpapers and bold colors such as yellows and reds, which are stimulating. While lighter matted colors such as blues, greens, and grays tend to be more soothing and calming. Color preferences are subjective so experiment and pick the soothing colors that suit you best.
21. Aromatherapy
Aromatic essential oils can also offer some relief to sleepless nights. Different essential oils have different effects on your mind and body. Some good essential oils that can help calm your senses and promote better sleep include lavender which can improve sleep quality and reduce anxiety, cedarwood which produces a sedative effect, bergamot, frankincense, and mandarin which can improve overall sleep quality. Massage it on your neck and shoulders, or rub some on your pillow or use an aromatherapy diffuser or add a drop or 2 into your bedtime bath water. [2, 3, 4]
22. Mellow Sounds
Babies sleep to white noise and soothing sounds. So should adults! According to a study in the Journal of Theoretical Biology, consistent noise reduces brain wave complexity and induces more stable sleep time to improve sleep quality. To tune out other less desirable sounds in your surroundings, try a good white noise machine that comes with a timer. [5]
23. Adjust your Bedding
Your bed should feel cozy but should not trap your body heat to the point that you wake up in a pool of sweat every night. Invest in breathable cotton sheets, such as lightweight percale organic sheets that can keep your bed cool while you rest. Also consider a weighted blanket that can help stimulate your pressure points, and increase your body’s production of serotonin and melatonin, the hormones that help you sleep.
24. Clean and Dust-free Bedroom
A messy room can be a breeding ground for dust mites and other unwanted air pollutants. Dust and dirt can provoke your allergies and make it harder for you to breathe. Keep your sleeping area clean and dust free regularly. Dispose of old mattresses and pillows because they can be breeding grounds for dust mites. Regularly clean and wash your bedding. Use hypoallergenic mattress covers and pillow covers underneath your sheets and pillowcases.
25. Create a Sleep Schedule
Poor habits like going to bed too early, before you are tired or too late, when you are over overtired makes falling asleep and staying asleep more difficult because your body’s internal clock is thrown off. Going to sleep and waking at about the same time each day creates a routine and rhythm for your body.
26. Sleeping In
Sleep cannot be caught up. Sleeping in might seem like the easiest solution to a night of tossing and turning, but it actually makes the problem worse. Sleeping in throws off your body’s natural sleep cycle and might even negatively affect your ability to fall asleep again later in the night.
27. Add a Routine
Create a relaxing pre-bedtime routine that includes quiet and relaxing activities to help your mind and body calm down and prepare for sleep, such as taking a hot bath with Epsom salts and/or essential oils or reading a good book.
28. Find your Sleep Zone
Making time for yourself including good sleeping hygiene is just as important. A study from the European Society of Cardiology showed that optimal heart health requires about 6 to 8 hours of sleep a night. However, we are all unique. So find your sweet spot as to how much sleep you need to function at your best and live your longest and healthiest life. [6]
29. Secret to Napping
Napping can have positive effects on your overall well being. However, it can also ruin your chances for a good night’s rest. Napping at the wrong time of day can throw your internal clock off and make it more difficult for you to fall asleep at a reasonable time later on. Ideally, naps should not last for more than an hour and avoid napping late in the day, especially around the late afternoon hours.
30. Go to the Bathroom Right Before Bed
Make this part of your bedtime routine. Clean off your makeup (for the ladies), brush your teeth and empty up your bladder before calling it a day. Nothing can be more comfortable and easy than that.
31. Wear socks to bed
Keeping your feet warm and cozy at night can help you get a better night’s rest. When your feet are cold, they constrict the blood vessels and negatively impact the circulation of blood in your body, thus affecting your body’s ability to rest deeply. The best way to keep your feet warm while you sleep is wearing socks. No more worries about kicking off that blanket while you sleep.
32. Your Pet “Fido”
Although research says that cuddling with your pet is good for your health, pet owners have reported poorer sleep when they let their pets sleep in their beds at night. The main reason is the movement. Pets often end up jumping on and off the bed or rolling around during the night. Pets also bring unwanted dust and allergy provokers into the bed via their fur. So try putting a small pet bed next to yours so that your furry friend can room in with you without affecting your sleep.
33. Reduce Medications (if possible)
Some chronic medical conditions such as heartburn and hot flashes, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, etc. can affect your sleep at night. There are medications prescribed for some of these conditions and may be the solution for some of us. However, some drugs or over the counter medications and even supplements could adversely affect sleep.
34. Natural Supplements to Sleep Better
I often recommend good botanically based supplements for better sleep which can help calm your mind and promote calming neurotransmitter production. Read my article on Why is Good Sleep Important to get the drift on this topic and some good quality sleep products.
Sleep is so critical to your overall well being. Without good sleep, a great diet and lifestyle may not be enough to keep you healthy and happy. I hope after reading this article, you feel more empowered to start working on improving your sleep situation. If you still need help, please CONTACT ME today and let’s assess all the areas in your life that may need fine-tuning. Let me guide you towards your goal of deep and restful sleep every night.
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Resources:
1. The Association of TV Watching to Sleep Problems in a Church-going Population.
2. Lavender fragrance essential oil and the quality of sleep in postpartum women.
3. Overseas Survey of the Effect of Cedrol on the Autonomic Nervous System in Three Countries.
4. The use of aromasticks to help with sleep problems: A patient experience survey.
5. Pink noise: Effect on complexity synchronization of brain activity and sleep consolidation.
6. Finding the sweet spot of a good night’s sleep: Not too long and not too short.