Sleep is essential to good mental health. You probably already know that when you sleep well you feel and work much better. We need to sleep for a myriad of reasons including focus, weight control, and overall health. But sometimes getting the sleep we need is difficult.
In general, adults need between seven and nine hours of sleep but the exact amount varies from person to person. Different people need different amounts of sleep, and this depends on your age, your lifestyle, your genes and what you’re used to.
A good night’s sleep won’t rid your life of emotional problems, but it can mean that you’re able to deal with difficult or stressful situations more easily.
If you’re not getting enough sleep you tend to feel moody and irritable and lack focus. Obviously, this problem is likely to affect your relationships with people, your work and your mental wellbeing if ignored.
Whether you suffer from a disorder like sleep apnea or insomnia then you should probably seek professional help. Yet, trying some natural remedies to help you sleep is a great place to start. No matter if you are just dealing with stress or an actual disorder is keeping you awake, there are natural ways to lull yourself to sleep.
Aromatherapy
If you break down the word, aromatherapy means to treat a disorder with scents, or aroma. The primary substance needed for this type of treatment are essential oils, which are volatile compounds derived from things found in nature, like lavender flowers or eucalyptus leaves.
There are three ways you can use essential oils to enhance your health; inhalation, topical, and ingestion. When it comes to sleep, the most beneficial way of using aromatherapy to help is through inhalation. There are several ways you can inhale these scents.
Diffusers are popular with users of essential oils, which come in many forms but all have the same function, to break apart the compounds and release them into the air for our inhalation. Essential oils can be used via the evaporation method, you can even get scented dryer balls so the aromas you need are in your bedding.
Some popular scents for sleeping include lavender, vetiver, ylang ylang, bergamot, marjoram, Roman chamomile, and sandalwood.
Disconnect
In today’s world we are constantly connected to some type of device. Whether it’s our smartphone, our computer, tablet, or television, it seems that there isn’t a time when we aren’t looking at some type of screen. Right now, I am typing this piece on my laptop while listening to music that is playing from my tablet not to mention the continual checking of email from my smartphone.
While listening to music is good at anytime, any activity that requires us to look at out screens should be stopped about thirty minutes before you go to bed. Our pineal glands secrete melatonin, the hormone that regulates our circadian rhythms, which is the system that puts us to sleep.
If you are sitting in bed at night looking at your phone while the television is on wondering why you are having a hard time sleeping the answer isn’t too hard to find. Do yourself a favor and shut it off and you’ll find you are falling asleep faster.
Create The Right Environment
The room you sleep in has a great deal to do with how fast and how well you sleep. For starters, let’s check the temperature. Hot rooms are not conducive to sleep, let alone falling asleep quickly. The optimal temperature for sleeping is anywhere between 65 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit.
Lighting is another area of your bedroom that could be causing you lost rest. Maybe you live in an urban area and have flashing neon outside then you should invest in some dark draperies. Dimly lit rooms are the best for sleeping.
As for your bedding, it goes without saying that your mattress and pillows are should be in good shape. They are big purchases but you are wasting money and time when you can’t sleep because there are lumps in your bed. Invest in a healthy environment to bring on the sleep.
Destress
Our last suggestion for bringing on some quick sleep into your life isn’t something you should add but eliminate from your life. That thing would be stress. While stress can be beneficial at times, like if you are in a dangerous situation, it is also a pain and can wreak havoc on our lives.
Let’s face it, stress is completely unavoidable. But you can diminish the amount of stress in your life in a myriad of ways. Exercise is a great way to relieve stress, you can use other essential oils via aromatherapy, meditation, and yoga are all wonderful ways to rid your life of excessive stress.
We don’t know when burnout will affect us, but we can’t let it stop us from falling asleep. Any of these actions will help you get rid of some stress if not all of it before you hit the bed. You can try a few and stick with the ones that work best for you.
Conclusion
No matter why you are having trouble falling asleep, we are sure the natural remedies we listed today will do their part in helping you solve that problem. Sleep is when we restore and recharge to take on another day. Without ample sleep your life and health will begin to suffer.
