10 Ways to Sleep Better
What is insomnia?
Insomnia is a symptom regarding a lack of sleep that can be caused by a large number of outside factors, relating to nearly any sphere of life. Its appearance is the most frequent in those between the ages of 18 and 25, and those over 65.
The causes of insomnia
Stress and anxiety, among many others, are some of the most significant causes of insomnia, meaning that office workers and generally anyone with a tight business schedule are prone to its inhibition. The percentage of insomnia inflicted males is slightly larger than that of their counterparts, but it averages out to a mere 5-10% difference. Since this difficulty can eventually lead to a number of serious illnesses, it is imperative that it gets stopped early on.
How to cure insomnia naturally?
Following are some of the best answers to how to cure insomnia.
1. Cut down on energy drinks, coffee, and cigarettes
All of these products substantially increase your heart rate and energy levels, in a very unhealthy manner. Drinking coffee or smoking before bed is known to enhance the difficulty of falling asleep, but so is doing the same during the daytime. All of those harmful chemicals remain in your system for hours beyond their effective timespan, which is something to keep in mind when combatting insomnia.
2. Rid yourself of stress and anxiety
This indeed sounds impossible to quite a few people, but it’s not as complicated, even if you just can’t afford to get a break from your busy lifestyle. Mental therapy and stress reduction supplements can offer you peace of mind and emotional stability. What makes sleeping a distant thought for most insomniacs is the fact that they’re constantly going through various scenarios in their heads. Shutting this off will allow you to fall asleep almost without exception.
3. Exercise, hard
Overall training and especially cardiovascular exercise offer substantial boosts to the health of the circulatory system, which in turn normalizes your heart rate and lets it relax when it needs to.
Additionally, it’s simply impossible to not be able to fall asleep after a day filled with rigid training sessions.
4. Take a bath with lavender oil
The research confirming the calming effects that lavender has on our bodies has recently stated that it can indeed cure insomnia in some cases.
When your body is refusing to go to sleep, it makes you fidget more than you usually do. You’re either uncomfortable with how the sheet is laid over your back or the angle at which your arm or leg is positioned.
These things are completely normal, for the first 10-15 minutes. Lavender will help your body discontinue the struggle and eventually turn off. You can shop Lavender Essential Oil HERE.
5. Eat or drink honey before bed
A tablespoon of raw honey both boosts the health of your liver, which produces numerous sleep-regenerating substances, and it induces melatonin secretion in your brain, which is the sleep hormone. Mixing honey with warm milk takes this solution a step further and creates an extremely pleasant feeling in your throat and stomach, resulting in a feeling of calmness and harmony.
6. Don’t stay up too late
Working until late night hours means you’re skipping through the period when your brain is telling your body it’s time to shut off. More than often, this is how you actually get insomnia.
7. Don’t oversleep on weekends
This seems like a viable option to most 9-5 workers, but what it really does is add extra abnormality to your sleeping pattern. You can’t make up for 4 daily hours of sleep with 8 extra on the last 2 days of the week.
8. Maintain a cool temperature
In case your room doesn’t have adjustable air-conditioning, a simple fan directed at you will do. The ideal temperature for any potential sleeper is between 60-68 degrees Fahrenheit (15-20 Celsius). This will allow your brain to cool off and naturally enter the sleep state.
9. Do yoga stretches before bed 
The poses that yoga offers do wonders when it comes to unwinding any muscles that may still be tense and prevent you from falling asleep. A short 15-minute yoga session in your bedroom will do.
10. Counting sheep
As much as this may sound like an extremely dull thing to do, counting sheep is simple and rhythmic mental activity that help humans sleep. It is something you usually advise to your children when they’re being hyperactive, boring yourself to sleep is actually a viable option.
Health Equals Shuteye, and Vice-Versa
You can’t have optimal health without proper sleep, and the other way around. This is why both your health and sleep habits need to be monitored and well maintained in order to avoid the appearance of any issues. If they do develop, however, there are habits and food supplements listed above that will help you combat insomnia successfully.
What is your best way to get sleep? Feel free to comment.
This is a great post on insomnia, but I have one question for you and it’s about the picture of melatonin that you posted. I’ve never taken melatonin until last week when I fell very ill and my sleep schedule was almost completely backwards from what it is normally. So I bought myself a bottle and took two pills as recommended and slept like a baby. This was great because when I was back at work I felt great having slept, but now a week later I’m finding that I am not tired at my normal bedtime at all without it. Have I become dependent on melatonin? How natural is it if it says not to take for more than seven days?
Hi Lindsey,
Melatonin is a naturally occurring neurohormone. So far not a single documented case of melatonin addiction. Lack of euphoric effect makes melatonin a safer alternative to other sleeping aids. 7 days of taking melatonin are enough to get into a regular sleep cycle.
Hi Jelena, thank you for this great post.
I have terrible sleep patterns, and I usually get no more than about 4 hours in one go, I stay up late, work for too long in front of the computer, take little exercise, drink tea and coffee…
I often end up having to have an hours nap in the evening because I rarely want to go to sleep when I should.
I figure I should really start making more effort as some days I do feel crazy tired when I wake up and some of your tips could definitely help me.
Thanks
Neil
Great post. I never new about drinking honey with milk before bed to help insomnia. I will have to try that. I was wondering what your thoughts on turmeric were? I have heard drinking it in a glass of milk at night was good for your health and helps you sleep. I was thinking of trying it. Thanks for your article.
I sometimes can’t sleep for hours and I use caffeine a lot during my workout days. But I drink it 10 hours before I go to sleep. Does caffeine cause it? Because sometimes I can’t sleep days, which I don’t consume any caffeine, too. This is why I have no idea about whether I have some kind of insomnia or not.
Hi Lindsey,
My wife always said she had a hard time sleeping at night I started to look for ways to help so she could have a better sleep. I am going to try Lavender Essential Oil and see if she can wind down with a nice bath. I alway said just count sheep your mind will forget the worries and get tired But I guess that is easyer said then tried.
thanks