Natural Sleep Aid Recommendations?

More of a lifestyle thing, but I stopped screens and artificial light at night. I have dim lighting and candles if I need it. Once the sun is down light is pretty sparse in nature. Also getting up and outside for the morning sunrises. I’ve been trying to teach my body to get up with sunrise and sleep with dark/sunset. Really helps with sleep and it’s helped my husband too who struggles periodically with insomnia.

I want to once again thank everyone for their continued suggestions.

I have identified quite a bit of artificial light in my bedroom from a variety of sources. I have found that a handy dandy roll of electrical tape has been a significant aid.

Router/Modem? Taped
Air purifier? Taped
Smart phone charger? Taped

I think this is helping quite a bit in addition to a few other aids. It really is a multisensory thing to get a person to comfortably go to sleep.

I want to give a shoutout to the tart cherry recommendation.

I have tried to make a comparison between days that I take an intentional supplement of tart cherry juice and the days I do not. I have concluded that I have a tendency to get more restful sleep after taking the tart cherry juice.

I'm rather pleased with its effectiveness. I will drink a small amount before bed and that is all it takes.

Lemon balm tea 2-3 hours before bed really helps me sleep better!

Yoga nidra has alleviated lifeee long insomnia.  Both falling asleep and staying asleep.  It’s an ancient practice, like other yoga disciplines.  And it is like a guided meditation.  There’s a woman on apple podcasts ad free and no cost.  Yoga Nidra and beyond.  There are others, she is my favorite.  If you search Ayla Nova or Nova Nidra anyone of them should find her.

I use my phone to play it, so it won’t work for those without some kind of internet access.

Other important considerations, get early and late daylight into your eyes.  Do NOT turn the light on at night, you need darkness in the night to keep your body’s sleep cycle undisturbed.  Sleep at the same time every night.  If you wake in the night and you seem like you’re going to be tossing and turning, get out of bed, go sit somewhere, develop a routine to perform, often times you will be able to go back to sleep.  That one is a matter of training.

There are a few podcasts that are supposed to put you to sleep, if you find you don’t take to yoga nidra.  The nice thing about YN is that after using it nightly (and if I woke in the night as well) for 18 months, I rarely have insomnia anymore!  

Here it is important to keep away histamine rich foods. Eating yoghurt will cause me a sleepless night. Also eating nuts, or anything with sulfite will keep me up whole night. I use magnesium, and calcium to bring down the acid in my stomach and small intestine. Valerian will help relax muscles, but it brings me cramps in the morning. Glycine helps me relax. Also tryptophan (I spread it over the day). I use l-theanine in the morning to bring down my toughts. I have to avoid salicylate rich foods like apples, resins, tomato's and pepper and a whole bunch of other plants. They promote tyramine in my brain and that will compete with serotonine and dopamine. And one need both serotonine and dopamine to relax and have no pain. For me a natural solution is to avoid plants and fermented or aged foods. (Aged foods also can have mold).
Greetings Nathalie

I usually sleep well...except for the regular bathroom visits, so I never know when I'll have that occasional sleepless night.  I have two things that work for me when my mind just won't shut down.  I made some lemon balm tincture (from some that is growing in my backyard) this past summer, and I keep it upstairs near my bed.  I've only needed it twice now, but it works incredibly well!  I just take one dropper full and almost instantly, I can feel any tightness let go.  It's total relaxation and ease.  There is no grogginess or drugged sensation at all.  It's almost like all of the electric buzzing going on inside of me stops and everything opens up and calms.  The first time I used it, I was worried because the scent of lemon seemed like it would "excite" my system, but it was remarkable.  I will always have this on hand! Both times, within five or ten minutes I was well on my way to a good night's sleep.

Personally, I can't imagine getting up and making some sort of tea in order to fall asleep.  That's why this second method is kind of a pain.  I don't have to get up and cook, but I do have to rearrange blankets and pillows.  A friend at work told me about it after one of those sleepless nights, and it, too, works every time.  All it involves is turning yourself around in your bed, so you have your head where your feet usually are, and your feet where your head normally is.  Rather than remake the bed, I usually just grab an extra blanket and lie down on top of the sheets and comforter and then move a pillow to its new placement.  It's funny, but I rarely think to do this one, but when I have, it's never failed me.  Pleasant dreams!

For helping to regulate sleep/ taking sleep we make a tea "Sea of Dreams".  1 part chamomile,  1 part mugwort,  1/4 party skullcap,  1/4 part lavender by weight.   Steep 5 minutes.   Mugwort truly does lend itself to lucid dreaming.  It helps with night terrors as well, so not to worry about content of dreams.   For staying asleep/ 3 am wakefulness we have a tincture: chamomile,  catnip,  California poppy, Milky Oats, licorice and Peppermint.  Lovely mild sedative, anti-spasmodic and restorative.   Does not make you feel groggy in the am, just properly rested.

If melatonin works for you, as it does for me, then foods high in melatonin: eggs, nuts, fresh cow's milk collected at night, turkey, other meats.

Melatonin (in its various forms) is good for boosting the immune system also (along with particularly vitamin D). 3 mg is plenty of the synthetic kind and if your pills are 10 mg, cut them in quarters

Turkey broth.  Cook a turkey, debone and put all the bones and scraps in a large pot.  Add 1 1/2 to 2 gallons of water, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for about 4-5 hours.  
Let cool, remove bones and skim fat.  Drink 1/2 cup before bed.
Think Thanksgiving and how sleepy you are afterward.  Turkey has tryptophan an essential amino acid involved in sleep and it will increase your serotonin levels which make you feel better.

You're right Billie: tryptophan increases melatonin production -- perhaps turkey doesn't have melatonin in it! Well turkey works for sure and I love the broth idea -- I wonder how geese are? Stacking functions: geese for security, soil building, meat, eggs and sleep...

Dunno about geese, but turkey DOES have significant tryptophan 😊

Okay, so this inquiring mind had no know, and the Internet seems to suggest goose is much higher (yay, time to think about getting 3 geese) The internet says

100 gram serving of domestic goose contains 0.4 milligrams of tryptophan

and

Turkey contains 0.24 grams of tryptophan per 100 grams of food

I don't go into any real methods, but the thread (and some discussion of it) have led me to add some comments.

First, the medical professional in the house notes that taking external melatonin (like many other supplements) will lead to downregulation of natural internal production, so coming off it can lead to a period of adjustment.  That's why the medical community advocates use for things like jetlag to help you adjust to the different daylight cycle than your body is attuned to.  It is used in hospital - her explanation is that some patients insist on something to help them sleep and melatonin among the mildest things they have that can be used.  Of course, it makes sense that sleep would be disrupted when one has a medical issue and is in a different environment with noises / lights / odours / etc than we are used to.

I've gotten to a point of being frustrated with light.  The blue light produced by electronics (which includes LED lights) interferes with our brain's natural ability to slow down and get to a rest state to allow sleep.  I can't say that it has made a significant difference yet, but earlier this month I got new glasses and along with them, I got blue-blocking clip-ons that I wear most of the evening.  For those without prescription glasses, there are blue-blocking glasses available.  Part of my frustration includes the fact that all the street lights in our area have been downgraded to LED lights.  Yes, they use less electricity, but I doubt the city and utility have done an analysis on what impact it has.  Here in Winnipeg, walking the dog in the dark hours of day is almost like a bluish daylight with hard shadows abounding.  Grrrr....

Another thing to consider is bioindividuality.  I haven't gone deep on this concept but it makes sense to me that we are all different and react differently to situations / stimuli / nutrients / etc.  In my mind, it helps to explain why some folks do well on a vegan diet and improve their health while others do the same on a carnivore diet (and both have medical professionals backing them up, although they may just have some financial interest).  To me this explains why someone gets groggy with a particular input (say Gravol as an example) while others are completely unphased by it.

I forget all the details of the routine noted, but I recall one fellow talking about sleeping better by going to bed tired.  It sounds obvious, but he advocated significant exercise prior to going to bed to physically exhaust himself.

As we age, She Who Must Be Obeyed and I seem to be having more difficulty getting to sleep and staying there.  There have been some medical issues (and the associated medications / procedures) that have impacted that.  We are overdue for a new mattress...ideally we should get one so that we notice the other moving less.  One of my to do list items is to address the aforementioned LED streetlights streaming into our bedroom with more appropriate window coverings.  One challenge is settling brains...I think I finally have it through to her to not bring up something big / deep with me before bed if possible.  

I think there's a lot in this thread that makes sense...to address an issue, it is better to get to a root cause and work on improving that than simply looking for the next thing to take that may help.

Oh, one thing that helped (probably both of us, but definitely her) was my weight loss.  I'm about 30 lbs lighter than I was in the spring of 2021 when I started addressing it.  I'm told I snore a lot less now...that probably implies I'm breathing better, but even with her hearing loss she notices the difference.

There is a wealth of great info in this thread!

I used to have horrible insomnia, from childhood up through a few years ago. The major things which helped me have been:
- dark, almost pitch black room
- cold, our bedroom is ~60°F
- diet, I’ve been on a health journey and organic foods have greatly improved every aspect of life, including sleep
- stretching, I spend 15-45 minutes stretching in the dark before bed

The one I haven’t seen mentioned yet is breathing. I read an article years back which listed a specific breathing technique which is supposed to help calm the mind and help people fall sleep:
- 4 seconds of breathing in through the nose, very deeply
- 8 seconds of holding your breath
- 7 seconds slowly breathing out
- 1 second pause
- repeat

I find this not only relaxes me, but it also blocks out virtually all other thought as I’m too focused on counting and breathing to let my mind wander.

About the time I start losing count while holding my breath I realize I’m tired enough to call it quits, and fall asleep quickly from there.

Together these have taken me from laying awake for many hours staring at the ceiling to less than 10 minutes from the time I lay down until I’m out.

Hi Timothy,

Sorry to hear about your insomnia.  I too suffer from it, with my longest stretch of sleeplessness lasting a full 14 days!  I can comment a little bit about practice, but not really about any drug/pharmaceutical/chemical/supplement/etc., even if is totally natural.

I had to go to a couple of different doctors to get my insomnia under control.  What eventually did it was working on my morning wake-up routine and focusing less on my nighttime routine.  At one point it seemed like nothing could sedate me enough to actually put me to sleep.  What my current (I think brilliant) sleep doctor did was get me properly woken up in the morning, every morning at the same time every day—no sleeping in!  That combined with my nighttime routine eventually restructured my sleeping schedule so that I had a normal wakeful part of the day and a normal “shutting down” part of the day.  My practice was to reinforce both of these parts every day.  It didn’t happen immediately, but over time my sleep radically improved and now I sleep mostly normally.

As others have mentioned, I am not thrilled with melatonin.  I tried it for some time hoping it would work, but all it did was make me groggy but unable to sleep.  And in the morning, I woke up and stayed groggy for hours.  Also, as has already been mentioned, too much melatonin can downregulate in your brain.  And if that weren’t enough, too much, even in the amounts available over the counter can have some undesirable side effects that are not mentioned anywhere on the packaging.  If you are curious about those, I can go further.

In the end, I don’t know or even care what sedates you (makes you tired and want to go to sleep), but whatever you use, remember the importance of maintaining your sleep structure—getting to sleep is only one part, waking up is just as important.

I know that some of this might sound a little vague, but if you have any questions or need clarification, just ask.

Good luck,

Eric

Magnesium Malate ( only the ..Malate ...form ) is great it relaxes the muscles and helps ypu to fall asleep .

I buy mine online Ebay or Amazon.

Buy the pills not capsules because if you want to you can cut in 1/2 .

Take it about 45 minutes before you go to bed .

After reading this thread, I rushed to the health food store and got some roasted organic pistachios.

However, after some more research, I have come to realize that it may not be such a brilliant idea after all.

For one, apparently the original pistachio study that was spread around was done in Iran, a pistachio producing country. and nobody has been able to find nearly the same high levels of melatonin in pistachios since then.

Also, roasting can reduce the levels of melatonin. So raw would have been better. But I would still have to eat a lot of pistachios to get anywhere close to a 3 mg dose. Also, nitrites added to the nuts would prevent sleep, so make sure to get untreated ones.

Many foods do contain melatonin, but probably not in high amounts. Might be more effective and healthy to get the natural version, though. So I'm not giving up yet.

I did see a paper which suggested that cherry juice did increase the quality of sleep in one study. Here is that paper; the sleep discussion is about halfway down, at 5.1: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308814624018223

Somewhere else I read that the cherries would have to be raw, and juice wouldn't be effective. So I think we must be still in the very beginning stage of researching this. In the meantime, it probably wouldn't harm us to eat some cherries, nuts, bananas and milk in the evening. So lets keep the citizen science going!