Insomnia- 9 Steps For Getting A Deeper Sleep

Over 60% of people throughout the world have some type of sleeping disorder.

Everybody and their dogs (literally the dogs) have some type of sleeping problems nowadays. For most people when they go lay down at night their mind won’t turn off. Their body is exhausted but their brain keeps thinking. Others have restless leg syndrome, their spouse snores, they have super sensitive ears and the slightest sound wakes them up and the list goes on.

Insomniacs get extremely frustrated to the point that they will do anything to get some good sleep. Most end up taking medication to get them to sleep but then they have to deal with the side effects… I hope to help you get off the meds and onto a more natural approach to getting your sleep back.

If you don’t get a good sleep then a whole slew of things can go wrong.

• You don’t handle stress better
• You’re extremely short with those around you
• Fatigued to the max
• Relying on caffeine to keep you going through the day
• More forgetful
• Increased blood pressure
• Weakened immune system
• Low libido
• You look like crap.

and the list goes on.

Stop doing these to get better sleep

 

1- When 8:00 comes. Turn off ALL electronics, TV, Phone, Video Games, Computers etc… Make sure your room is dark and take time to prepare to sleep. Screens emit a blue light and enter into the eyes and stimulate the brain. It tells the brain that it is still daytime and when that happens you’re brain will not secrete the sleep hormone melatonin. Also, if you have an alarm clock that has a light then hide the light. Make your room as dark as possible. This is the best thing you can do to start helping you sleep better

2- Look at your diet. Are you consuming lots of sugar, refined carbs, eating lots of junk food, dairy, processed heavy meats, etc…

If so

try doing something different with your diet. Consume more vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, beans legumes etc… seek help is this is hard for you. Just remember that living food is what you want. The less processed and the more whole and raw, the better.

3-Cut out the caffeine. Coffees and teas that have caffeine are not beneficial for insomniacs. There are plenty other fantastic herbal teas that have far more benefits than coffee and green, white, and black teas.

4-Drastically reduce or eliminate alcohol.

5-Avoid eating carbs 2 hours before bed. In general, it’s best to not eat before bed anyways. Your body should be focusing on repairing, cleaning and healing. We don’t want it to be focused on digesting food. That keeps you up at night and makes things worse. Also, avoid drinking anything 2 hours before bed to avoid getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.

What can you do to get better nights sleep?

 

Let’s get right into the goods.

1- STRESS

In the world we live nowadays, it’s no wonder that the number 1 killer of sleep is stress.

your body ramps up adrenaline, it ramps up its heart rate and puts you in a state of fight or flight. Your body literally shuts everything else down, all the blood goes to the arms for fighting, the legs for running and the mind for quick thinking and focuses on that moment of survival. What we don’t realize is that there are plenty of situations that we don’t need to be in that situation. Many people have a stressful job and are in this constant state of stress.

So the first thing to do is to look at your life and figure out what you can do to eliminate stress throughout the day.

Try doing some meditation, yoga, or just find a way to disconnect. I play piano and poi. Find your way to disconnect and do it.

Avoid electronics to disconnect because that creates more stress.

2- HERBAL TEAS

Things that you can drink to help you sleep better would be a good herbal tea.

One of my favorite herbs to drink before bed is holy basil. I swear by this herb. It’s fantastic for the adrenals and relaxes the body. It helps you deal with stress and be more focused.

other herbs for sleep would be Lavender, Hops, and skullcap. You may not have heard of those but they work in an amazing way!

3- EXERCISE

before bed try going on a walk to calm your body. I have found that to be very helpful. If not that, then try to start exercising during the day. Release the stress and the endorphins into the brain. Exercise is one of the best remedies for sleep.

4-WARM SHOWER

Take a nice hot shower right before bed to relax and calm. It works great right after you have journaled your day. That’s a fantastic combo. There’s nothing more soothing then relaxing in the shower or bath with no interruptions. Turn on some relaxing music and let the warm water sooth your body.

5- JOURNALING

Another effective way to get your brain to rest is to start taking up journaling. Getting all the random thoughts and things that happened to you throughout the day onto paper lets your brain quit thinking, relax and get you ready for sleep.

Try it for 30 days. That’s my challenge to you.

We have SO many things happen to us throughout the day. It’s a great remedy to brain dump every day. Remember that no one will be reading this so you can put everything down on the paper. things that you are embarrassed to tell anyone. It’s important to get everything off your brain.

6- WHITE NOISE & RELAXATION MUSIC.

This method is for the people that can hear a pin drop while sleeping and wake up by the slightest noise. The constant noise helps the mind relax cause there is a constant noise. There’s a reason there is very relaxing music when you go into getting a massage or do yoga or anything of the sorts. It relaxes you.

7-READING

Let me preface with this.

Have you ever been driving down the road staring at the lines and you fall into a trance?  You snap out of it and realize that you are still driving somehow?

Scary right?

What is happening is that the lines on the road act as a hypnotic rhythm to your eyes and thus putting your mind in trance state.

This is what reading does to you at night. As you read the words help to relax and put you into the deep sleep.

BUT

Don’t read on your phone or iPad! That defeats the purpose because of the blue light that the screen emits.

If you have A kindle then that’s a great way to go. Going old school and pulling out a good book is even better.

 

8-MINERALS (Magnesium)

When your body is in a constant state of stress and worries it burns through the minerals in your body. The minerals in your body literally help you stand up to stress.

BUT

If you are eating a terrible diet with processed junk foods then there is no way that your body is getting replenished and you become depleted. That leads to a whole host of problems. Get a mineral test done and see what your body is lacking or has too much of.

There are hair analysis testings that you can do which is very effective at checking your minerals levels in your body.

The best mineral to start taking is magnesium. This mineral has so many different functions in the body that almost every person living in today’s world is deficient. That’s a great mineral to take as a supplement.

9- GETTING GROUNDED

Ever heard of the circadian rhythm?

Due to work becoming industrialized and humans having to work in concrete buildings, under synthetic lighting and we created a massive disconnect from nature. We use to work day and night outside in the sun, touching the earth, breathing fresh air, exercising, eating better foods and we were in sync with the rhythm of the earth. I know that sounds hippie but it’s true. We have disconnected from the cycle that our bodies are supposed to follow by all the synthetics into our lives.

The best remedy for your body and the stress in your life is to get out in nature. Period.

 

If you do suffer from sleeping then consider trying some of these out. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

 

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About the author. Paul is a certified nutritional herbalist and has been in the field of nutrition for over 5 years.