Steve Horne, Master Herbalist and President of Tree of Light Institute, wrote a guideline of 12 tips for a better sleep that has personally helped me and I would like to share with you.
Horne gets you started by giving you a dozen tips for getting a better night’s sleep. Pick one or two to work on at a time and see if they make a positive difference in your sleep patterns.
I often find that most people with insomnia fall on the category of tips 9 through 12; however the rest of them are great reminders to help your body to quite down. Here is his guideline:
Sleep Tip #1: Schedule Sleep: Your body has an internal clock that helps engage periods of sleep and wakefulness. If you can get on a schedule that allows you to get to bed at roughly the same time each night and wake up at the same time each morning, it will ease both falling asleep and walking up.
Sleep Tip #2: In Chinese medicine, it is believed that certain meridians (or energy flows) are active at certain times of the day. According to this theory, the gall bladder and liver meridians are active from around 11pm to 1 am and 1am to 3am respectively. This is the peak time for your body to detoxify if you are asleep by 11pm. If you are not asleep when your gallbladder meridian becomes active, you may get a surge of nervous energy that inhibits sleep. This will be followed by feeling sluggish and tired the next morning.
Sleep Tip # 3: Avoid Late Night Stimulation: Avoid activities that get your adrenals pumping. This includes watching exciting TV shows or movies, exercising before bed and listening to loud stimulating music. Instead, try to listen to relaxing music, read uplifting books or share a massage with your partner.
Sleep Tip # 4: Create a Relaxing Atmosphere: Remove TVs, computers, cell phones and other distractions from your sleep area and keep your bedroom uncluttered and free of electric devises. You can also support your body with herbal combinations like Herbal Sleep or Kava Kava, especially if you have muscle tension.
Sleep Tip #5: Don’t eat late: It is hard for your body to fall asleep when it is digesting a heavy meal, so try to eat dinner at least two hours, but preferably four before bed time. Food Enzymes with your meal may help digestion as well.
Sleep tip #6: Make your sleep area dark to help your body to convert a neurotransmitter called serotonin into melatonin. Melatonin puts you to sleep. So, make your bedroom as dark as possible. You can also support your body with the supplement 5-HTP Power.
Sleep Tip#7: Breathe deeply. Oxygen is very important to sound sleep. Breathe deeply as you lie in bed and focus on relaxing your body, starting with your toes and working your way up to your head. Focus your mind on your breathing and mentally saying positive statements like “am relaxed” or “all is well”. GABA Plus or Stress-J are great supplements to help quite the mind if you need extra support.
Sleep Tip#8: Quite your mind. Get a pad of paper and write down your to-do list for the next day. This will help to “get it off your mind”. I find this tip very helpful myself.
Sleep Tip #9: Reduce your stress level during the day to help you sleep better at night. If you are tired during the day, but have poor quality of sleep at night, you may be suffering from adrenal exhaustion. This includes fatigue, mental confusion and emotional sensitivity during the day, followed by restless sleep. Two of the best remedies for this is Nervous Fatigue Formula TCM and Adrenal Support.
Sleep Tip #10: Balance your Blood Sugar. If you wake up in the middle of the night thinking about your problems and unable to go back to sleep, this can be a sign of blood sugar problems. What is happening is that your blood sugar is dropping too low in the middle of the night and your adrenal glands are firing off stress hormones (adrenaline and cortisol) to elevate your blood sugar. Avoiding sugar, white flour products, alcohol and caffeine will help. Licorice Root and Super Algae good supplements for additional support.
Sleep Tip # 11: Stay Hydrated. Proper hydration calms the brain and promotes better sleep. Try drinking at least ½ ounce of pure water per pound of body weight per day. In other words, two quarts (64 ounces) is the right amount of water for a 128 pound person.
Sleep Tip # 12: Be Physically Active. Take a walk, dance, swim, ride a bike, lift weights or otherwise engage your muscles 15-20 min per day to improve your sleep.
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