The end of insomnia

Many millions of people spend their nights with insomnia. They get up like they’ve been beaten and fight their way through the day without rest. Conventional sleeping pills are unsuitable as a long-term solution due to their side effects. Nature, on the other hand, has numerous well-tolerated home remedies. There is sure to be one for you that can finally show you the way back to the realm of dreams.

Are you one of the insomniacs?

Does your mind keep spinning when you lie in bed at night and actually want to fall asleep ? Do you often wake up during the night and then have trouble going back to sleep? Do you find it difficult to get out of bed in the morning and feel more exhausted when you went to bed? If one or more of these points keeps you up three or more nights a week, then you already fall into the insomniac category.

Sleeping pills and their effects

Any decent citizen will sooner or later end up in the doctor’s office when dealing with the problem of insomnia. Unfortunately, he has just enough time to hand you a prescription for sleeping pills. To find out the cause of your insomnia, he would need to spend several hours examining you, your habits, your problems and your lifestyle. But nobody pays him for that, so he doesn’t bother about it either.

Chemical-based sleeping pills also have a mood-dampening effect. They regularly lead to headaches, nausea, daytime tiredness, impairment of the ability to concentrate, reduced ability to react and finally to physical dependence. The latter means that sleeping without the appropriate medication is no longer possible at all and consequently one has to constantly live with the more than unpleasant side effects.

There is also some kind of memory loss involved. For example, some people can’t remember eating or having sex while under the influence of their sleeping pill. Paradoxically, in the case of insomniacs, who have not been able to sleep without medication for years, the abuse of sleeping pills leads to increased nervousness with tingling in the legs, tremors and cramps in the muscles.

New evening and night rituals for sleep disorders

Before you put yourself through the unpleasant side effects of such sleeping pills, it is better to exhaust all other possibilities from the abundance of healthy alternatives available to eliminate your insomnia. These alternatives also work causally and not symptom-oriented like chemical sleep aids do. The first step is to recognize that your previous living and sleeping habits seem unfavorable for a healthy sleep. So make some changes and innovate. Create new evening and nighttime rituals. Here are some examples:

The bedroom should only be used for two things: sleep and love. Other activities such as watching TV, reading, eating, phoning, surfing the Internet, working etc. should preferably take place in other rooms.
Go to bed at the same time every night.
Avoid afternoon naps, especially in the late afternoon.
Be careful not to fall asleep on the sofa in front of the TV. If you feel sleepy, get up and do something else until it’s time for bed.
Take a relaxing bath before going to bed.
Listen to soft and soothing music.
Avoid late-night snacks that are difficult to digest or contain sugar.
Depending on the dose, alcohol as a sleep aid is relatively reliable, but it will leave you with a terrible appearance the next day, bad breath, a lack of concentration and performance, and a long-term alcohol problem.
Avoid family discrepancies near bedtime and don’t go to sleep until you’ve made up or agreed when you’ll work things out the next day.
If your partner generally goes to bed at a different time (later) than you or has other habits that you personally find disturbing (reading for a long time, snoring, etc.), you should consider whether there is a possibility that you furnish yourself (or your partner) your own bedroom.
Your bedroom should be well-ventilated, quiet and dark.
Make sure your feet are warm!
If you can’t fall asleep, don’t panic. Don’t keep checking the clock either. It just makes you nervous and doesn’t do anything. Go to another room. Make sure that only a weak light is switched on. Read a little, write in your journal or organize the next day’s routine and if you feel sleepy lie down again.

No power to negative thoughts

One of the most common reasons for trouble falling asleep is your own thoughts. They circle and circle and circle. You can’t turn them off. Problems that aren’t half as serious by day suddenly seem as unsolvable at night as a knot in a wet dew. Always remember: for every problem there is a solution. Finding one is your job when it’s light and you’re feeling strong and fit, not when it’s dark and you’re sleepy.

Therefore, in the evening or at night, put all annoying thoughts and people who appear in these thoughts on small clouds and blow them out into the wet, cold night, if you have to, do this several times in a row. As long as your boss (your co-worker or whoever) is out there clutching his cloud and the icy wind whistling in his face, replace it with peaceful and safe thoughts. This works perfectly with the help of visualization. Visualization helps the body relax. Sleep comes all by itself.

Relaxation through visualization

“Visualization” may sound complicated, but it really isn’t. This means that you simply put yourself in your own dream world. At this point, the conscious dream world is meant (not those in your sleep). Make up wonderful stories of that wonderful life you’ve always wanted to live. You’re the age you want, you look the way you want, you live in an age you find interesting, you meet people you admire, etc. etc. Be the director of your stories. All people involved do and say exactly what you want. It wouldn’t be the first time that evening visions would become a novel…

Insomnia due to magnesium deficiency

Nervousness and insomnia often indicate a magnesium deficiency despite extreme tiredness. Especially when you get cramps in the legs when you have settled comfortably into a bed. In this case, you should fortify your diet and take appropriate supplements to replenish your body’s depleted mineral stores. Magnesium preparations should be of a special quality (see also: Magnesium deficiency) and not consist exclusively of magnesium.

Drug insomnia

Some medications also cause insomnia. This can be the case with appetite suppressants, beta-blockers, cortisone, asthma medication, contraceptives, cytostatics and many more. In these cases, be sure to clarify the problem with your therapist so that you can get a medication with fewer side effects.

Insomnia from the wrong place

Many people have found that after moving house or just rearranging their bed, they can suddenly sleep better again. Whether it was a water vein or electrosmog or something completely different – it’s worth a try. Rearrange your bed or move your bedroom to another room. If you are sensitive to electrosmog, then try whether your insomnia disappears after installing a mains demand switch.

Fix insomnia with certain foods

Grapes in the evening are said to promote the production of the sleep hormone melatonin. Just 300 grams of the juicy little fruits are enough. Foods rich in vitamin B, such as bananas and nuts, also help you fall asleep.

Prevent insomnia with real vanilla

The soothing of tense nerves with the help of what is probably the most delicious spice of all time is particularly enjoyable: vanilla. The tropical fruit of an orchid has a very positive effect on strained nerves and was therefore regularly used in the 17th century to treat sleep disorders. In today’s time of powerful artillery, the natural companion in the realm of dreams quickly fell into oblivion.

In aromatherapy, however, the precious essential oil of vanilla is still prescribed for anxiety, insomnia and depression. But vanilla not only has a sleep-inducing effect on the nose, but also on the stomach. You can also treat yourself to a light, vanilla-flavored snack one to two hours before you go to bed – for example, a calming nightcap.

Vanilla nightcap with almonds

The vanilla-almond milk is extraordinarily delicious. The drink is only called milk because it looks like real milk, but actually contains no animal milk. Prepare vanilla almond milk as follows:

In a blender, blend 1 teaspoon to tablespoon of almond butter (or a small handful of almonds ) with some pitted dates and warm (or cold) water. After a few minutes, add a generous pinch of real organic vanilla – and sip the delicious result. If you like, add a little cinnamon or nutmeg, because these spice also have a reputation for soothing ailing nerves.

Ashwagandha for insomnia

Ashwagandha, an ancient Indian medicinal plant, can be used very well against insomnia. The powder promotes restful sleep, makes you more stress-resistant and reduces daytime sleepiness. It is best to take ashwagandha in capsule form or as a nighttime sleep aid.

Insomnia due to disturbed melatonin balance

Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain. It regulates the sleep-wake cycle, but also protects the cells in the brain from oxidative stress and is involved in regulating gastric acid production. If the melatonin balance is disturbed, sleep disorders and insomnia occur.

Normally, melatonin levels rise in the evening to make us sleepy. In the morning it decreases again, while at the same time the cortisol level, which keeps us awake, rises.

In a separate article, we explain how you can naturally increase your melatonin levels in the evening. Although you can take melatonin directly, there are also other measures (certain behaviors) that then lead to a natural regulation of the melatonin level.

Combat insomnia with sleep-inducing medicinal plants

Medicinal plants are a wonderful way to ensure healthy sleep. They relax noticeably – and without any negative side effects – and put us in a calm basic state, so that meditation or the aforementioned visualization are much easier to implement and have a significantly faster effect.

Relaxing evening tea

A calming tea of passionflower, catnip and chamomile relaxes the body and mind. Passionflower is a sedative used for anxiety, worry and an overactive brain. Catnip gently induces relaxation and chamomile has an overall calming effect and relieves physical tension. If you are allergic to daisies, replace the chamomile with hops.

Homemade valerian tincture

Valerian is probably the best-known sleep-inducing medicinal plant. You can buy caps and drops from it, but a homemade tincture of valerian root is particularly effective. You can buy the root online. Cut them into the smallest possible pieces, put them in a dark sealable glass and pour high-proof alcohol (at least 40 percent) over them. Put the jar in a dark place and shake it once or twice a day. After at least five days, you can pour off the liquid and fill it again into an amber glass bottle. Take ½ to 1 teaspoon of this one hour before going to bed (several times a day if necessary).

Kava-Kava

If you suffer from unbearable nervousness or even anxiety during the day, try kava-kava (also known as intoxicating pepper). Kava-kava is a wonderful anxiolytic plant that may have been banned in some countries because it was poised to replace side-effect-laden psychotropic drugs.

Herbal pillow

What contributes to a nice atmosphere in your bedroom and, incidentally, puts mind and body in harmonious vibration are herbal pillows with a spicy or flowery scent. This is aromatherapy at its finest. Their effect is by no means based – as is often believed – on a placebo effect, but on a link between the olfactory center and the limbic system in the brain, so that aromatherapy is now one of the recognized forms of therapy.

Make your own herbal pillows

Herbal pillows are filled with soothing herbs, blossoms, seeds and roots, such as lavender, mugwort, hop blossoms, dill seeds, valerian root pieces, marjoram, lemon balm and passion flower. Add rose and orange blossoms and you’ll feel like you’re in paradise.

To do this, fill a pouch with a drawstring, about 7.5 cm to 12.5 cm in size, with the desired herbs and close the pouch. If you enjoy sewing, fold a 5″ by 12″ piece of fabric and sew two sides closed. Wash with an unscented detergent or fabric softener. Stuff it with cotton or fiberfill the size of a cotton ball, add wild herbs and sew up the open side of the pillow as well. The essential oils of the plants promote sleep in a pleasant way.

Special herbal combinations for herbal pillows

To relieve stress: Mix 1/2 cup of hop blossoms with 1/2 cup of mugwort and 1/8 cup of sweet marjoram.
For a good night’s sleep: Mix 1/4 cup of lavender flowers with 1/4 cup of mugwort and 1/4 cup of hops.
Against nightmares: Mix 1/4 cup rose petals with 1/4 cup rosemary, 1/4 cup lavender, and 1/4 cup hops. You can add rose or orange blossoms according to your wishes.

We wish you a healthy, restful and deep night’s sleep.