Not being able to fall asleep or stay asleep is incredibly frustrating. This can happen to all of us every now and then, but if it’s an ongoing problem, then it is classified as chronic insomnia. Looking for solutions to get decent rest is the goal of most people who suffer from the condition, but they don’t necessarily want to turn to drugs. That’s why natural therapy to relieve insomnia can be such a good option.

Meditation is a wonderful way to reduce insomnia. Practicing meditation or prayer during the day will help to remove stress, and will focus you on being calm. This will make it much easier for you to be in a good state of mind for falling asleep. You can also invest about 15 minutes of time meditating or praying before bedtime to achieve the same state of calmness.

Another natural therapy to relieve insomnia that a lot of people like to use is aromatherapy. Essential oils like lavender relax your mind and body and will assist in bringing about sleep. Using aromatherapy in combination with a warm bath will set the mood. You can also place a few drops of lavender oil on a cloth and put it under your pillow at night. You don’t want to use so much that the smell becomes overpowering, but rather just enough to calm you down.

What you eat and drink can have a major impact on your ability to fall asleep. Having a glass of warm milk before bed has been a home remedy for insomnia for ages. Of course you shouldn’t drink or eat dairy products if you’re lactose intolerant. Try to avoid eating a heavy meal before bedtime as your body will be working hard to digest it. Also, if there are certain foods that cause you trouble, you shouldn’t eat them. Having an alcoholic drink before bed may seem to help, but it really doesn’t. Alcohol affects your ability to stay sleeping, so do your best to not have a nightcap.

There is a natural chemical called melatonin which regulates how you sleep. Your body naturally produces it, but if it’s not producing enough you can find melatonin supplements. However, as it’s still a pill–even though it’s a natural one–you should consider it carefully before deciding to take it.

Most people would consider herbal remedies as a natural therapy to relieve insomnia, and valerian root is one that a lot of people use effectively. It seems to work by relaxing the nervous system and can produce a feeling of well-being. However, as it is an herbal supplement, you should check any medications you are on to see if they may react negatively with the valerian. Check with your doctor or pharmacist if you aren’t 100% sure. Drinking cup of herbal or chamomile tea before bed can help to soothe you as well. Being in overall good health does a lot to relieve insomnia too. You may want to kick any bad habits you have, exercise regularly and eat healthy.

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Although we spend around 3000 hours a year sleeping, you may ask, “what is sleep and what is its purpose”?

Sleep itself follows a set cycle every night; that of REM (rapid eye movement) when most dreaming occurs and non-rapid REM and we will repeat the cycle several times a night. An infant spends roughly half their sleep pattern in REM and the other half non-REM. Alternatively an average adult will spend only 20% of their sleeptime in REM sleep.

Research has shown that non-REM sleep consists of four stages before we reach REM sleep. Stage one is the time when we feel half awake and half asleep but our muscles begin to relax. After about ten minutes we reach Stage two and that lasts for around twenty minutes. This is the time we are fully asleep and our heart rate and breathing slows. While Stage two lasts the longest, we then go to Stage three and our deep sleep pattern where our heart and breathing is at their lowest begins. Finally, we reach Stage four where it is more difficult to be awakened and if we are, we are often rather grumpy! All these stages typically last up to 90 minutes before REM sleep.

REM sleep is a bit strange to describe as although we are not aware, our brain is particularly active and our eyes are exceptionally so (hence the term, rapid eye movement). You may not be aware, but apart from your body resting, your brain is far from inactive when you are asleep. Scientists can now record through the use of expensive equipment and sleep studies that different areas of the brain are certainly very active. During REM, the time when we dream and may sleepwalk, our breathing and blood pressure will begin to increase although our bodies don’t respond to this. It is suggested this is nature’s way of stopping us acting on our dreams and perhaps harming ourselves.

How much sleep we require differs between individuals, but if you don’t feel sleepy during the day, then you are probably getting enough. Sadly, many of us either do not get the opportunity for enough sleep or, when the opportunity is there we find we can’t sleep anyway!

Hopefully this quick overview about What Is Sleep will have been of help to you. If you feel you body has become ‘out of sync’, try some of the natural sleep aids reviewed on these pages.

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Melatonin is a natural hormone believed to play a role in anti aging, as well as helping with jet lag and chronic insomnia. But caution is well advised with using melatonin as a supplement given its powerful effects.

One of the problems with melatonin is that most of the studies were done on animals and not humans. Animal studies are used by the scientific community to indicate whether a substance has promise, and can yield valuable results even though they are ethically questionable.

One such study was done at the University of Texas Health Science Center where scientists were able to establish not only that walnuts contained melatonin, but that it was able to be absorbed – at least by rats. But they believe humans would also be able to absorb melatonin from walnuts. Unfortunately, they don’t know just how many walnuts you’d have to eat to get any benefits. It might require a sackful for a good night’s sleep! But using food as a source of melatonin is a good option given that it is much safer, particularly if suffering from any serious illnesses.

People who should not take melatonin supplements include children, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, those with serious allergies and HIV and cancer patients.

Melatonin is a very powerful substance and only small doses are needed to create improvements. For example, dosages as small as 2 to 3 mg only can help people suffering from insomnia. One such sleep aid is Melatrol if you fancy giving it a go.

Overall, melatonin is very promising, and may well help people with serious illnesses like cancer and multiple sclerosis. In the meantime, increasing our dietary intake of foods like walnuts that potentially supply us with this wonderful nutrient, may have a host of protective health benefits as well as slowing down the aging process and help insomniacs.

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