Here is a list of 11 natural sleep aids. This list is not decisive – but it would give you a good start to know what’s available and they have all been PROVEN to be helpful with sleep and a variety of sleep disorders.
No, it is NOT your average list of sleep aids – look again and absorb why. This list cuts through the misinformation in the industry.
1. A forty minute walk, at least 4 mornings per week, most preferably in the sun exposing your skin. Number one for a reason, just do it.
2. Healthy eating. Watch the food additives, colorings and chemicals that are in your diet. E.g. It may be that you experience from insomnia several days after having takeaway Chinese meals with MSG in them, or that you’re intolerant to the bread preservative calcium propionate (282). There are around fifty food additives and chemicals related to a wide range of sleep problems including restless sleep, depression (waking too early in the morning), aggravated anxiety and panic, bizarre dreams, night terrors, bed wetting, the incorrect diagnosis of sleep apnea, breathing problems, sleep walking and sleep talking, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (too active to sleep), etc. Visit my website to know exactly where to access this information in more detail.
3. Reduce your intake of salicylates and amines in food. These are naturally occurring food components that are found in HEALTHY foods, such as sultanas, strawberries, slow cooked tomato based stews, citrus fruits even vitamin supplements that include citrus bioflavanoids.
4. Look up your prescription drug name in Google to see if insomnia, depression, anxiety, restlessness, difficulty sleeping are side effects listed on internet sites. Some prescription medications are causing problems with sleep patterns. If you’re taking a combination of medications, ask your doctor how each of them is behaving in combination – this question is difficult for even the doctors to answer.
5. Do not eat too much sugary food, particularly before going to bed. When your blood sugar levels fall it causes most people to wake up. Instead, have a small piece of protein before bed, if you’re hungry e.g. a boiled egg.
6. Get off the drugs, alcohol and stimulants! Duh!
7. Have at least an hour each day to relax and do something enjoyable which is not stressful or electronic. Relaxing isn’t watching violent and weird TV shows, and it isn’t playing electronic games and certainly not violent electronic games. (Your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between reality and imagination – this stuff is “bending your brain” more than you realize, and gives you more to assimilate and process whilst you are asleep.)
8. Have a definite end to your day, every day – where you stop working and relax.
9. If you work on the computer a lot, turn it off completely or move away from the melatonin inhibiting blue ray screen several hours before you go to bed.
10. Hydrate. If you are dehydrated you don’t sleep properly
11. Sleep cool instead of hot. Overheating in bed reduces your rapid eye movement sleep. Throw out your doona/duvet and sleep under something cooler made of natural fibers (cotton, wool, alpaca, etc).
This list will be continued soon, its certainly not decisive. We know that it does not contain a list of packaged over the counter sleep aids – let’s get the basics down first! If you implement the list above you may not need to purchase any sleep aids at all.