Natural Sleep Aids For A Sound And Restful Sleep

Natural Sleep Aids Guide
A good sleep is one of the cornerstones of health. Without it you simply age more quickly! Studies have shown that short-term sleep deprivation not only sends your immune system into a tailspin, it also impairs your cognitive abilities, and worsen vision.

Long-term “sleep debts” can wreck havoc on your weight, and increase stress-related complications such as heart disease and chronic depression.

It takes more than just the best mattresses to sleep well every night. To help you maintain a healthy restorative sleep, and ensuring you get the best night’s rest, here are some tried and tested natural sleep aids related to your sleep sanctuary.

Leisure Zone?

Go for discreet, warm colors to create a calm atmosphere. Pictures hung on the walls should be favorites, for example those taken on a vacation, or peaceful nature arts.

These natural sleep aids can help create the right atmosphere in the bedroom to ensure sweet dreams.

Keep objects that can be associated with work and stress out of the bedroom, and never use your bed as a place to do work―even if you find your work a hobby.

Work materials, and electrical appliances such as computers, laptops, cordless phones, and your plasma TVs are best put in a separate room.

They are never your ideal natural sleep aids before bedtime. Your brain would have had enough stimulation for the day without you having to chuck in more.

Another health reason for keeping the electrical appliances in a separate room, or at least keep them as far away from your bed as possible (at least three feet away) is this: You could be living in a soup of dangerous radiation!

Yes, your so-called “relaxing” must-have electrical devices produce toxic electromagnetic fields (EMFs), which can disrupt the production of sleep hormones, and may have other negative effects to your health as well.

Last but not least, anything that is plugged into a wall socket gives off an EMF of 50-60 hertz, even if that appliance is turned off. So unplug them!

Zero-Light

It’s important to have a room that is dark (some suggest complete darkness, or as dark as possible) for the best restful sleep. Light can disrupt your internal “sleep-wake” clock. So can the light from your “external” clocks: radio clock, luminous wall clock and even your mobile phone! For the brain, light means time to wake up.

As an alternative, you can use a 100% light-blocking sleep mask. Frequent air travelers swear by this natural sleep aid. Go for the foam or fleece eye shades for total comfort.

Inner Temperature

Next, ensure your sleep sanctuary is cool, neither chilly nor freezing cold. Keep it between 18 to 21 degrees C. Too warm or too cold can lead to restless sleep. Since our body’s internal temperature will naturally drop when we sleep, a cooler bedroom can mimic this tendency. Here are other related natural sleep aids.

A warm bath hour one hour before bedtime is one way of cooling the body … assuming that you retire to bed between 10 to 11 pm.

Why one hour? Why a warm bath? Why 10 to 11 pm? Read on.

The one hour is an approximate (short hair will require less time) to allow your hair to dry before sleep. Some people will feel tired and have headache or even catch a cold the next day, if they sleep with their hair still wet. According to TCM, our yang qi is weakest in midnight. So it is the weakest time of immunity. Sleeping with your hair wet and cold can result in qi stagnancy.

Honestly, I’d prefer a cold (but quick) shower. A warm one only comes when I feel chilly …

The period between 11 pm to 1 am is the time your body does a majority of its healing and detoxification!

After this period, it will drift into slow-wave (delta) sleep stages 3 and 4―required for the secretion of HGH (human growth hormone).


In a Nutshell

Without having to accompany the owls, a warm bath or a cold shower as natural sleep aid is okay, but make sure your hair is dry before sinking into bed―just to play safe. And no more damp pillow too!

Before we leave this topic, you should consider a hot therapeutic foot bath as an alternative. It may help promote circulation, and restore yin yang balance according to TCM.

Exercise as Sleeping Aid

Exercise as an alternative natural sleep aid? But why is it that some find it harder to fall asleep (though the body is tired) right after a vigorous exercise? The reason is due to the increase of our body temperature after exercise.

When one exercises vigorously, the body temperature will go up slightly and maintained at this level for a few hours, after which it will only drop lower than the level before the exercise.

But when the exercise is done in the late afternoon or early evening, it gives the body ample time to cool down as night falls. Additionally, production of antiaging hormones like HGH will be also triggered.

This is the best way to maximize the cardiovascular workout's beneficial effects on sleep. So get your heart and muscles pumping for awhile. Just don't don't do it right before bed, and don't over-pump it either.

Excessive exercise CAN harm your health!

Morning exercise has many benefits as well. Other than helping improve your mood and release stress (these effects can indirectly improve sleep as well), absorbing the morning light too can promote sound sleep.

If this is not enough, try your hands at these natural antidepressants-anti-stress sleeping aids.

My #1 Natural Sleep Aid

Charles Cefalu, MD, chief of geriatric medicine at Louisiana State University in New Orleans sums it up well:

“You want a mattress that is firm enough to distribute your weight or you'll wake up sore due to your shoulders sagging or your hips sinking. On the other hand, you don't want to sleep on a board.”

Roger Herr, PT, a Seattle-based spokesman for the American Physical Therapy Association, has this to say about memory or latex foam:

“It's a good marketing tool and may be comfortable for some people that don't move around much. But if you want to roll around, which can be good for your skin and body, what's the point of a material that remembers your position? You have to make sure it's accommodating to all your sleep positions,” he says.

“On the other hand, people with joint sensitivity due to arthritis or other conditions may benefit from a mattress that adapts to the body contour,” Herr says.

The best rated mattress (it may not be the most expensive) whether coil or foam, should be firm enough―neither too soft nor too hard―to provide support to the body especially your spine, neck and shoulders, while still offering some cushion and recoil for comfort.

And like all things, the mattress will soon wither away. When a mattress starts to sag and is no longer able to give proper support and comfort, then it’s time to shop for a new one.

If you have allergies to dust mites, molds, or other substances, consider a hypoallergenic mattress or mattress cover. If you sleep with a partner, go for at least a queen mattress to allow enough space for movement. If room space permits, go for a king.


Sleeping Partners

Your partner, in this context, I don’t mean your pet cat or dog. Albeit good companions, they are not reliable natural sleep aids.

Firstly, they are very sensitive to external stimuli and may jolt up at anytime; and then go back to sleep unaffected. Can you?

Secondly, cat and dog dander, or skin flakes, as well as their saliva and urine, can cause an allergic reaction, such as sneezing, wheezing, and running eyes and nose. These are common disruptive sleep aids.

That said, however, if your partner is a restless sleeper or snores so loudly that it's interfering with your sleep every night, you may also want to consider a separate bedroom.

Green Plants, ZZZZ & More!

Others, for more practical reason, think otherwise. For them, green plants take in oxygen and release carbon dioxide (CO2) into the air at night. They are thus “competing” with us for oxygen (O2)!

According to feng shui experts, plants which represent growth and vibrant life, are not exactly the energy you want to have in the bedroom.

Who is right?

The view that green plants take in O2/release CO2 during the night is a fact. So does your partner sleeping with you. Then how do we explain primates who used to sleep atop trees in dense forests? Or those who went camping in National Parks?

If they can do it so can we in our bedrooms, right? Well, it depends. Balance is the key. Let me explain.

It’s never recommended by anyone sensible to stuff your small, poorly ventilated room with dozens of green large plants turning your sleep sanctuary into a mini tropical forest!

On the same note, some greens in your spacious and well ventilated room are not going to suffocate you anytime soon; and they can certainly endow your bare room window with charm and make you feel more relaxed. Besides, they can “symbolically give us a connectedness to Nature.”

Talking about Nature, the jungle is an open space area (with well circulated fresh air). But unfortunately your “mini jungle” isn't.

Feng shui wise, balance (yes, the yin and yang) is still the key. A few small potted (Money) plants in a big bedroom are bad feng shui? Not at all. The opposite is true!


Plants that release O2?

Yes, there are some plants, such as the Snake plant (also called the Mother-in-Law's Tongue plant), that release O2 at night, not CO2, and have been suggested as natural sleep aid for this reason.

But personally, I don’t recommend using Snake Plant as a natural sleeping aid in your bedroom. Have you ever thought of placing Cactus plants in your room? Why not?

Because they emit “spiky” energy! And so is the snake plant, in a way. They’re not what you want to wake up in the morning to see, do you? And neither will it make you feel any calmer.

But placing them outside at the front corner of the house, on the other hand, can bring protective feng shui energy. They serve as a guardian or a sentry for the home besides beautifying the surrounding area.

Here are TWO more reasons for using green plants as natural sleep aids:


One

And example of a plant that “eat” formaldehyde, ammonia and benzene is the Chrysanthemum. Oh, the Snake plant too is a benzene eater!


Two

Some plants are natural pest controllers. Let’s take one of the most annoying insect pests that can interrupt your otherwise sound sleep―mosquitoes!

Here are some plants that are used as natural sleep aids to repel these flying insects: the Mosquito Plant (a cross breeds between the geranium and citronella species), Catnip, Basil, Marigold, and Rosemary.

Ok, ok if you have a mosquito or two, any mosquito repellant plants might help deter them, but if you have a swarm of them, apply the oils of these plants to the skin works better.

A quote by Leonardo da Vinci to close the topic of sleep: “A well-spent day brings happy sleep.”

Another powerful natural sleep aid here.

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