Natural Home Remedies And Cures

Insomnia-What Is It?

Insomnia is simply the inability to fall asleep and/or stay asleep. Insomnia can and does affect nearly all adults at some point in time. While an occasional sleepless night is not unusual many insomniacs have trouble sleeping on a continuous basis. This can affect nearly every facet of their lives, and be troublesome to say the least! Lets take a look at some of the causes of insomnia.

Causes of Insomnia

Insomnia can be caused by any one or many times a combination different contributing factors. Here’s a list of some of the main causes of insomnia:

   Psychological Causes

• Anxiety-is a condition in which people can feel fear, worry, uncertainty, sometimes a feeling of helplessness.
• Stress-we all deal with stress in our day to day lives, if you are unable to deal with stress effectively insomnia can result.
• Depression-is characterized by feelings of sadness, discouragement, and despair.

  Physical Causes

• Hormonal changes-in women premenstrual syndrome, menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause. Men too can suffer hormonal changes, most notably around the age of 40-50 yrs old, characterized by drastic changes in lifestyle (buying that sports car, desiring a much younger girlfriend, ect.)
• Decrease in melatonin production-as we age the body’s production of melatonin, a hormone that helps control our sleeping patterns, decreases significantly.
• Medical conditions we may have-any number of medical conditions can contribute to insomnia including, hyperthyroidism, allergies, arthritis, asthma to name a few.
• Pain-we’ve all experienced pain or discomfort that can make it difficult to sleep.
• Genetics-that’s right genetics do seem to play a role in some cases of insomnia.
• Sleep apnea-a condition in which a person stops breathing momentarily during sleep.
• Restless leg syndrome-the involuntary twitching of ones muscles, which can causes sleeplessness.

  Temporary causes of insomnia

• Jet lag-a temporary condition caused by traveling, changing time zones, ect.
• Working rotating shifts can upset ones seep cycle.
• Medications-many medications will include sleeplessness and insomnia as  side effects.
• Overuse of caffeine or any stimulant can cause you to lose sleep. Surprisingly the consumption of excessive amounts of alcohol can have the same effect. Many other drugs can have the same effect.
• Environmental conditions-a change in your sleep environment, excessive noise, heat, location, or any change in your sleep environment.
• Learned insomnia-related to anxiety above, when a person worries about their ability to fall asleep and therefore is unable to do so.
• Eating or drinking too much just before bedtime.

These are just some of the possible causes of insomnia, and many times it’s not just one, but a combination of  factors that keeps us awake at night. 

Now that we know what insomnia is and what causes it (if you suffer from it I’m sure you already had a good idea) lets look at some natural cures and remedies for insomnia and see if we can get a good nights sleep ok?

Natural Remedies And Cures For Insomnia

I recommend taking a good multi-vitamin with minerals on a regular basis as an important part of a healthy lifestyle. Be sure to buy your vitamins from a health food store as these should be fresher and of higher quality than if bought from your local Wal-Mart. In addition here is a list of vitamins that are said to help you get a good nights sleep, generally follow the manufacturers recommended dosages or follow your physician’s recommendation.

Vitamins And Suppliments To Help You Sleep

• Calcium
• Niacin
• Iron
• Magnesium
• Copper
• Vitamin A
• Vitamin B12
• Vitamin B6
• Inositol
• Chromium
• Tryptophan
• Phosphatidylserine
• Serotonin
• Melatonin
• 5-HTP

You can obtain all these vitamins,  minerals, and supplements at your local health food store (the best option) or buy online and have them delivered to your door. I  recommend you Google each to read about their benefits, side effects, dosages, ect. You could and should also discuss them with your health care provider.

Herbs To Help With Insomnia

• German Chamomile-well know herb to relax you, just brew a tea of Chamomile and drink before bedtime.
• Lemon Balm-brew a tea or can be taken in pill or as an extract.
• Passion Flower- can also be brewed into tea or taken as an extract or a pill.
• Catnip-brewed as a tea or in the form of a liquid extract.
• Valerian Root-pill, liquid or brewed as a tea.
• Lavendar-brew as a tea, or use the essential oil in a bath or as a massage oil.
• Kava-can be taken in capsule form.
• St. John’s Wort-can be taken in capsule form.
• Celery-eat some it could help you sleep!
• Hops-taken in the extract form.

Here again I would suggest researching the herbs listed above to better understand dosages, side effects if any( most herbs are quite safe) and to decide which you feel could be most helpful for your sleep disorder.

Always do research before putting any drug into your body, regardless if it’s “organic and natural” or “synthetic and chemical”! Just because it’s organic or natural doesnt necessarily mean it’s safe or without unpleasant side-effects.  Don’t take anything for granted when it comes to your health-if in doubt always ask a qualified health care professional. Take care of yourself and this one body God gave you!

Some Tips To Help You Prepare For A Good Nights Sleep

• Keep a regular schedule
• Start some bedtime rituals such as-listening to soft music,listening to a relaxation tape, ect.
• Don’t eat a large meal just before bed, although a small snack can actually help you sleep.
• Write down a list of your concerns and worries, this can help you put them to bed!
• Don’t drink coffee,  soda, tea, eat chocolate, or anything with caffeine or any stimulant.
• Don’t have a loud alarm clock in the room.
• Make sure the room you sleep in is dark and remains that way.
• If you get sleepy go to bed instead of falling asleep in front of the tv.
• If noises wake you up think about wearing ear plugs.
• Night shades you put over your eyes can sometimes be helpful.
• Read, do crossword puzzles, play solitaire, anything that will work your mind and help it to relax.
• Get a massage, a great way to relax and relive stress!

Maybe It’s All In Your Head, Your Insomnia That Is!

Do you find as you lay awake at night you just can’t turn off your thoughts? You keep thinking about the events of your day or what you expect to happen tomorrow?

Maybe you need to learn how to relax, to slow down your racing mind, calm your body and drift off to sleep. Lets take a look at some relaxation methods to help you do just that, relaxation is something that for many can become a learned response.

Techniques For Learning The Rrelaxation Response”

• Progressive muscle relaxation for curing insomnia-using this technique you would lie down and one muscle group at a time tense and than completely relax them working your way from your feet to the top of your head. It not only gets your mind off whatever you may be worrying about but is a easy, proven method to learn how to relax.
• Cognitive behavior therapy-the idea is to challenge the misconceptions you may harbor about sleep. For instance you may think getting a good nights sleep is vitally important to your well being and sleeping poorly could have disastrous consequences.    Through cognitive behavior therapy you could challenge this thinking and simple realize that sleeping poorly is really “no big deal” and though you could be tired the next day it really won’t affect your life much. You’ll learn to take the pressure off and relax more.
•  Practice deep slow breathing-try breathing with your abdomen very slowly and deeply paying close attention to every breath as it goes in and out.
• Practice meditation-there are many meditation techniques, with some you use a mantra(a word or phrase you repeat over and over to yourself as you relax) with others you try to clear your mind of all thought gently and completely. With other techniques you visualize a place that to you is very peaceful and calming such as a mountain meadow or a quiet beach with the only sound the gentle waves washing on the shore, and you slowly try to “see” this peaceful place in the greatest of detail and with a relaxed enjoyment.

For the best results with these relaxation techniques you need to practice them on a daily basis, although sometimes just using the technique at bedtime can help tremendously. If you get skilled using any of the above techniques you will be able to relax at will and for most sleep will come easily. If you would like more info, again search the terms in Google. 

I hope I’ve given you food for thought and some avenues to explore in your search for a good nights sleep.