Natural Remedies for Insomnia: A Comprehensive Guide

I was having problems falling asleep at one point and I resorted to all kinds of things even drinking alcohol, working out hard in the day so I would be exhausted but still wouldn't fall asleep but somehow (don't know how and why) it stopped and I was able to fall asleep. Then I would fall asleep fine but around 2am I would just awake sometimes for no reason sometimes to pee and I would hardly be able to fall asleep again. This happened for months. My eyes would just open and I would like there for hours trying to fall asleep again and no matter what I did it just won't happen. I even got eyebags due to lack of sleep now I want to get rid of them. I had gone to a health store and bought some sea salt - one without preservatives or additives and just sun and wind dried. Somewhere I had read something about sea salt but didn't quite remember what so I decided to try it. Add some to my drinking water and lo and behold that solved the problem. Another thing is I could only fall asleep on my left side so I started developing pain in my left shoulder and I could only sleep in that position. I couldn't sleep on my back or right side or belly but since drinking the sea salts I sleep on my back or right side like a baby. Sometimes i even sleep all through the night and even if I wake up to pee I will fall asleep again. I am sooooo happy. Hope this helps someone. I still take it daily or almost daily by adding about a little to about 1 liter of water - enough to taste it but not be salty. I think I was missing some minerals which the salts provided

Please, share any ideas you might have.

My elderly dad stays by me over the weekends and sleeps well. During the week he stays at his home with a caregiver and cannot sleep at night. He wakes up, becomes panicky and rude, tries to get out of bed (unsafe for him due to balance problems, leg surgery, etc) This past week he basically lost on a whole week of sleep. What could be the reason in his room (he has lived there for many years) that it becomes such a huge problem? It has been happening with different caregivers. I replaces new roomdarkening blinds already.

Please, share any insight you may have.

Insomnia, my best tablets are called Serpina (Indian Snakeroot) an Ayurvedic tablet that is excellent, plus has many other positive things, I can't write everything now but send me a message and I will try. Serpina tablets $7 at Amazon, or Distacart sells them. Dosage if can't sleep at all take 3 tablets in am and 3 tablets at nite. Once you're sleeping then reduce dosage if you want. They are completely safe, however will interact with Antipsychotics, cold, flu medicines. Non habit forming, stopping cold turkey is fine.

You can take OTC Benadryl 50 or 100mg if you wake up in middle of night then just take another 1 of those and fall back asleep. Since they can cause memory loss in long-term use I advise to take for 3-4 weeks maximum.

Never take sleeping pills, habit forming and dangerous. A Valium is fine a few days but they are habit forming and dangerous after 4-5 weeks maximum. Jujube fruit(Chinese dates)fight insomnia, Anxiety, buy at Amazon.

Last one for sleep: try L-Theanine pills (only must have: Suntheanine, highest quality) take 200mg twice daily or increase to 400mg 2X daily, they are safe and can be taken at 3,000mg safely, but rarely done. Best of luck to anyone who tries them. If you're happy & sleeping send me a message.

Skullcap tea for Hyperthyroid, insomnia, nervous tension

Skullcap tea will immediately calm you down, slow down your nervous system. I have to be careful with how much of this tea I drink because of how fast it works and how effective. I want to go to sleep right after I drink it, so be sure to pace yourselves. Works like nothing else for this - a true miracle! A miracle for insomnia, hyperthyroid, and anxiety problems!

YES! Skullcap TOTALLY works! I've been drinking the tea form of it and it's just incredible! Like natural Valium! Rooibos is another good relaxing tea but Skullcap is a much stronger sleep aid. I just fall asleep practically immediately after drinking it! It's a must try for insomniacs!

I have insomnia related to stress and physical pain. Magnesium helps somewhat. Kava has helped. Unfortunately, benadril is what gave the most relief the past few months. But I seem to be able to take less benadril by using a liquid tincture of the herb skullcap. I use one dropperful before a warm tub each night, then go to bed. I have used melatonin but it gave me bad dreams. I will continue to experiment and keep you informed if I touch on anything else worth mentioning.

Hi,

Some time ago I started waking up at night, unable to sleep consistently. I searched around and found that the herbal mixtures of skullcap and valerian finally worked for me.

J.

I have had poor quality sleep for some time now. I wake up 2 to 3 times at night. I am constantly tired at work. I've started doing light exercise (walking) right after dinner and that seem to help some by making me tired enough to fall asleep-but I'm still waking up throughout the night. Sometimes I even wake up teary eyed, coughing and gagging so much that I have to get up and blow my nose or drink some water. I read something about dust mites but I've fallen asleep on my sofa a few times & it happened there also. I take ACV on a regular basis for health benefits but it has not helped my sleep. I am a 30 year old 125 pound female; so weight is not a problem & I have no other health issues. Anyone have any ideas?

I tend to forget to wear it, but a few yrs back my friend got me a sleep mask for my eyes. Whenever I wear this mask, I have the DEEPEST sleeps and most vivid dreams. Without the mask, it usually takes me ages to fall asleep, and even when I do, I'm always waking up. I suggest these masks to anyone who has trouble staying asleep. My only concern is that it does such a good job at keeping my eyes in darkness, that I've rolled right off the bed a couple times when waking up, because I'm disoriented and don't realize where I am on the bed. A small price to pay though for some needed sleep!

Total darkness allows the iris of the eye to completely relax. Eyes are the only place your nervous system is exposed to the world directly. If you are resting in a partially darkened room, cup your palms over your eyes for a while until it seems totally black. Remove your palms and keep your eyes closed. You will perceive some light or lessening of the black through your eyelids. Closing your eyes to sleep, in any illumination, does not allow complete relaxation. Always use a sleep mask or soft cap pulled over your eyes, doubled if needed, and test with palms over mask to be absolutely sure of total darkness.

Sleeping with your head pointing North can improve the quality of your sleep. Also sleeping in absolute total darkness(no alarm clock lights, no light from the door jam) can have a huge impact on your over all health. It will allow more melatonin release by your body and for a longer period of time during the night, which is vital to living longer and healthier. This kind of sleep quality lifts your levels of attention, energy and motivation, awareness and helps keeping aging down to a minimum.

I use mango,coconut water, banana, and sweet potato for sleep, and it really works!

I read that these ingredients help with insomnia, which is typical for me now, and decided to try them, and they're great!

I make a smoothie with mango, banana, and coconut water right before bed. I usually eat more banana then and also eat some previously còoked sweet potato then too. Any kind of sweet potato works, but the purple colored ones work even better than the orange coloured ones, which are just fine. It's even better when I add GABA and tryptophan powder, but it's mostly the regular smoothly that does the work.

Ps the book says if you eat greens of some kind with the mango, it KEEPS you awake instead. I wonder if that means at dinner too.

My daughter and I each got a wristwatch/step tracker and are having a fun time of it. She has a friend she is comparing steps with. I got one because I thought it would motivate me to stay active on a regular basis. We did not get the expensive ones. They were about $25 each. Not only did I not want to spend a lot on one, a friend who was wearing a smart watch was having some weird symptoms that she attributed to her smart watch.

My watch can be paired to my phone to record data, which I do daily.

Honestly, I am not sure the steps are accurate. I did get to 10,000 steps in on Saturday which was supposedly over 4 miles in the day but I am not convinced I walked that much. 80% of it was just stuff I normally do around the house on Saturday (cooking, cleaning, gardening.) But, I do think it is comparatively accurate, so for my purpose of motivation to keep moving, it is effective.

I was especially fascinated by the fact that it can track sleep.

I feel like I am a light sleeper and often worry that I am not getting quite enough sleep. 5-6 hours a night seems typical for me.

I have tracked several nights and it appears that I am getting better sleep than I thought. I am getting plenty of deep sleep. Apparently, in the light sleep cycles one can be somewhat aware of what is happening around. I often feel like I am "sleeping with one eye opened, " but I am apparently getting rest. In fact, more than I might have guessed. One morning data was that I got 6 hours and 20 minutes of sleep, which was 45 minutes more than I was guessing I got.

My point is, if you suffer with insomnia, a sleep tracker may encourage you that you get more sleep than you think, or confirm how little sleep you are getting!

My husband snores and I have been concerned about sleep apnea for him. He has a bad family heart history and sleep apnea is hard on the heart! I had him wear my watch and he registered 8 hours of sleep with a good balance of deep and light sleep!

Obviously this is a very low tech way to evaluate sleep, and not appropriate for someone with significant sleep issues. But for the curious it gives some interesting data.

My watch also gives my heart rate. I thought it was reading too low, but when I compared it to the reading on a pulse oxygen meter I have on hand it appears to be pretty close.

So that is my two cents on a fitness tracker watch!

~Mama to Many~

Hi everyone,

I often have trouble falling asleep, recently I found out about the the "4-7-8" breathing trick, and it seems to work for me.

"You breathe in through your nose for four seconds, hold it for seven seconds, and exhale through your mouth for eight seconds. She explained to me that it slows down your heart rate and it also releases chemicals in our brains that soothe you".

Article about it on Dr Weil's site here.

I have chronic insomnia. None of the supplements/herbs I have tried do anything for it. Some do help me to sleep but then I have diarrhea from them. Does anyone have experience with clay? I hear it goes to the place in most need of healing first--do you think it would go to whatever is wrong and then I'd be able to sleep? I took 1 dose of sodium bentonite clay and had muscle aches, headache, belly cramping. Now I hear that the calcium bentonite would be a better option. Anyone?