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melatonin for sleep & other natural sleep aids

Categories: Natural Sleep
July 3rd, 2011 by

Many different varieties of natural sleep aids and herbs have been touted for use as sleep aids. Some have fairly reliable clinical proof that they do work such as melatonin for sleep & others like chamomile have little more than anecdotal evidence to recommend them. If you do decide to try an herbal remedy, tell your doctor. You shouldn’t take some herbal remedies with certain drugs (including OTC sleep aids), and telling your healthcare provider what you’re taking in order to avoid an unpleasant or possibly even dangerous drug interaction is important.

Melatonin for sleep

Melatonin is one of the natural sleep aids based on the hormone melatonin which is produced by the pineal gland in the brain that regulates sleep cycles and seasonal changes within the body. The hormone became very popular as a sort of “magic bullet” sleep aid a few years back, but less popular after its side effects including depression, weepiness, and headaches became known. It’s usually one of the major ingredients in natural sleep aids. If you do decide to try melatonin for sleep, use a very small dose (1 to 2 mg), not because high doses are dangerous but because they render subsequent doses of melatonin ineffective. Also, use only totally synthetic melatonin. You don’t want to use melatonin whose source is harvested pineal glands off slaughterhouse floors or concentrated organic melatonin from cow regurgitate — yuk! By the way, it’s illegal to feed cow-brain melatonin to your livestock — if you had any — because of regulations designed to curb mad cow disease. So if it is not good enough for your cows, it is probably not good enough for you.

Valerian Root

Valerian Root has a long history of use as a calmative and natural sleep aids. Patients find Valerian Root beneficial in treating mild cases of insomnia.  But Valerian Root can interact with some prescription medications, including antidepressants, anxiety drugs, and even some medications for insomnia. Be sure to let your doctor know if you’re taking this herb to prevent potential problems. In addition, Valerian Root may cause the following side effects: Headaches Indigestion or stomach ache Restlessness.

Chamomile tea

For centuries people have used chamomile tea as a natural sleep aids and to treat a variety of health complaints, sleeplessness among them. Germans are so fond of it they call it “alles zutraut,” meaning “capable of anything.” Chamomile tea reportedly helps to promote a deep sleep and produces a soothing feeling of relaxation and calmness. But before you run to the store, consider the following drawbacks: It causes contact dermatitis or other allergic reactions in susceptible individuals. It interferes with antiepileptic medications. If you’re on aspirin therapy or taking a blood-thinning medication like Coumadin, heparin, or warfarin, don’t take it. It can increase the risk of bleeding and hemorrhage when taken with these drugs. Many other herbs are touted as sleep remedies from time to time. Just be sure to check with your doctor before adding a new herb to your regimen to make sure it won’t conflict with something you’re already taking.

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Lack of Sleep: Causes for Lack of Sleep

Categories: Natural Sleep Sleep Problems
October 22nd, 2010 by
When was the last time you got enough sleep, or do you regularly go days or even weeks with a lack of sleep?  Here are a few helpful hints that might assist you in getting the sleep you so very much need.
Yoga – light to moderate yoga stretches and poses are well-known to assist in sleep. Being able to re oxygenate your muscles by stretching them in different yoga positions, or even if you only do 10 to 15 minutes worth of yoga type meditation, could help bring on the relaxation needed to take care of your lack of sleep. If you become a regular practitioner of yoga, whether it’s a morning or night time routine, has been known to relax you enough to assist you in falling asleep and staying asleep.
Create a Routine– if you more often than not change the times that you get up in the morning and the times you go to bed at night, this most definitely can adversely affect your sleep. Creation of a good time to wake up every morning, as well as making sure you are in bed at the same time every night, will put your body rhythms into a pattern that will induce sleep. Make sure you follow this routine even on your days off from work, as breaking the routine can once again cause you to lack sleep.
Eating habits — are you a junk food junkie? Do you spend more time eating Cheetos instead of cheese? Does the majority of fruit you get come from Pop tarts? Then it’s time you took a serious look at your diet. What you eat throughout the day most definitely has a huge impact on what kind of sleep you get at night. If most of your calories come from refined sugars, starches, bread and caffeine, these can factor in to whether or not you lack sleep. Although you should eat healthy throughout the day, try to make at least the last half of your day as healthy as possible with fresh fruit, vegetables and by limiting your sugar and caffeine intake.
Stress – we all have stress in our life, and it’s very difficult to avoid it however, try to change some things in your routine that you know add stress to your life that isn’t necessary.  Stress is a big thing when it comes to lack of sleep.  If you know your shortcut drive on the way home from work is usually bumper-to-bumper traffic at five o’clock, then find an alternative way to drive. Avoid bothersome people. Take a 10 minute walk. Do 100 jumping jacks. Play with the dog. Find an extremely easy task that can become your hobby, like making a hook rug or wood-burning or growing an herb garden. Anything very peaceful, that doesn’t take a huge amount of thinking, is always good to help alleviate stress.
We’ve just touched the surface of what you can do to take care of your lack of sleep. Lacking sleep, being over tired, can truly twist your judgment and your way of thinking. Make sure you try natural ways to help you sleep however, don’t avoid taking something over the counter or prescribed if you find that a necessary way to go.

 

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How to Achieve Natural Sleep

Categories: Natural Sleep
October 19th, 2010 by

At some time in all our lives we go through periods of not sleeping well.  When that happens, we all wish to find a way to get to sleep naturally.  While there are thousands of pills and prescriptions on the market today to help you sleep, there’s not been much touted for natural sleep.

When one looks for natural sleep, what is the best way to start?  Start by looking at things in your day to day life you could change.  Sometimes it’s what you do or eat or drink on a daily basis that might be the cause of your sleeplessness.  Before taking over the counter or prescription medications, see if any of these things apply to you:

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Caffeine – Caffeine is well known for its use in waking people up (like in coffee, tea and soda), but caffeine can be hiding in other things you aren’t aware of.  Chocolate is known to have higher levels of caffeine.  Some cough and cold medicines have caffeine in them as well.  Although usually not listed in the ingredients on a package, there is caffeine in some cookies, cakes, pie crusts and candy bars as well!  If you are prone to having a little pie or coffee after dinner, you may be setting yourself up for a loss of natural sleep because of the caffeine, not to mention the sugar.

Stress – Stress can be a HUGE factor on whether you can get to sleep naturally or not.  Even if you feel you go to bed peacefully, stressors during the day can keep wreaking havoc on your sleep system and make it so you can’t fall asleep.  Although stress cannot be avoided, there are some steps you can take to make stress less likely to be the sleep deprivation culprit.

Exercise – Exercise is a funny one when it comes to natural sleep.  If you don’t exercise it can keep you from sleeping.  If you get too much, it can over stimulate you in to not sleeping.  If you exercise too close to bedtime you could end up awake long past the time you should have gone to sleep.  Take a look into when, and how much, you exercise to see if there is something you can change there.

Physical Ailments – From headaches to hot flashes to charley horses to tummy aches, having even the smallest of physical illness can keep you awake and make it so you don’t get to sleep naturally.  Even something like an ingrown toenail can keep you awake for hours.  If you find that your physical well being has made even the slightest change, then there’s a good possibility that it is what is causing your lack of sleep.

Finding natural sleep isn’t very hard, even though it can be frustrating at times. There’s a good possibility that changing just a few of your daily behaviors can bring about the natural sleep you so desperately desire.  Although you’ve probably been told before, it should be said again.  Limit your caffeine intake.  Make sure your stress levels don’t spike.  Participate is regular exercise, but don’t overdo it and not too close to bedtime and get regular physicals.  With these minor changes, sleep can become your best friend.

Click Here! For an Awesome Report on the Fastest & Easiest Way to Achieve the Natural Sleeping You’re Looking for

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