As an insomniac myself, I have tried many things to get myself on a normal sleeping schedule. From my personal experience here are the best natural remedies for insomnia.
Melatonin
Melatonin is a chemical we make naturally that helps us fall asleep. As you can imagine it is a great natural aid to fight insomnia and help you sleep. You can find supplements in pill form anywhere from Wal-Mart, Walgreens and natural food stores.
Valerian
Valerian is a natural root product that relaxes the mind and body to make it easier to fall asleep. Valerian root is often mixed in many sleep aids such as bedtime teas. You can find it at Wal-Mart and natural food stores.
Kava
Kava is a lot like valerian root except it is much more powerful. Kava is not meant for daily use. As long as you don’t take kava more than 3 times a week you will be free of its side effects. The side effects of Kava are of feeling lethargic and may cause skin to develop a slight orange hue. Kava is a great natural sleep aid that can remedy insomnia.
Chamomile
Chamomile is another body and mind relaxer but it’s the weakest of the bunch. Chamomile can often be found in natural sleep aids such as bedtime teas.
Limit caffeine and sugar intake within 3 hours of bedtime
This one is a pretty straight forward approach to avoiding stimulants before bedtime. Consuming stimulants before bedtime is often a cause of insomnia and avoiding them before bed is a great remedy.
Keep a strict bedtime schedule
Doing this will set your body clock to a better time putting you on a much more natural schedule. Since insomnia sufferers are naturally drawn to staying up at night it is important to force your body into a habit instead of letting it decide when it wants to sleep.
Wake up at the same time everyday
This remedy is another timing and training approach but this remedy is a more natural schedule that allows you to have occasional late nights out but the catch is that you will pay for it the next day when you cannot sleep in.
Don’t hang out in the bed or bedroom
Hanging out where you sleep messes with your perception of your room as the place you go to sleep. If you stay away from your room all day everyday your mind will understand to slow down and relax once you get to bed and aid you to sleep better.
White noise machine
If you have a lot of noise around you keeping you up at night you should get something that makes constant noise that you can handle to drown the other noises out. They have white noise machines that you can buy in stores but a simple fan may be enough to aid you to sleep.
Sleep in total darkness
We talked about melatonin as the first item listed. Well this one relates directly with it. Melatonin is destroyed by light so blocking out ALL the light in your room (even small lights from TV’s, DVD players, laptop and cell phone chargers) can make a huge difference in the use of Melatonin in your brain when helping you fall asleep.
To get the best night sleep using these remedies I suggest using all of these remedies together. It is safe to take all of these natural sleep aids (such as melatonin, valerian, kava, and chamomile) together as they are very often the key ingredients in costly over the counter sleep aids sold in stores and on TV.
