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Jun 12, 2023

The Best Natural Remedies For Sleep

While everyone knows that you will feel fresher and more energetic after a good night's sleep, many people do not realise just how important good sleep hygiene truly is to your overall health. From

While everyone knows that you will feel fresher and more energetic after a good night's sleep, many people do not realise just how important good sleep hygiene truly is to your overall health. From poor cognitive functions to actual health conditions, not getting enough sleep can be detrimental in a variety of ways.

Whether you have mild sleep trouble or chronic insomnia, you just will not be yourself if you don't get a good amount of sleep. Luckily, there are plenty of natural remedies you can use to help you sleep better and get at least seven hours each night. The question is, which natural sleep remedy should you use?

Well, while sleeping pills may seem like an easy answer, a combination of natural sleep aids and behavioral therapy is the best way to achieving improved sleep hygiene. With that in mind, we will now show you the very best natural sleep remedy options available to help you build your perfect plan to enjoy better sleep.

Natural Sleep Aids

Melatonin

Melatonin supplements are among the most popular sleep aid choices as melatonin is the primary natural hormone produced by the human brain to control sleep. Secreted by the pineal gland, its presence in sufficient amounts is vital for the maintenance of a healthy sleep wake cycle.

Not only is it required for you to enter the most restful sleep type possible, known as REM sleep, but keeping your levels up will also help you to fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and enjoy good quality sleep at all times (1).

We have a list of the best over the counter sleep aids containing melatonin here.

Ashwagandha Root Extract

Ashwagandha root extract is a herbal remedy produced from the roots of the winter cherry shrub which has been used for decades in ayurvedic medicine to provide a variety of health benefits.

It is useful in natural sleep remedies as it can boost sleep quality and sleep latency and reduce anxiety and stress, while also lowering blood sugar levels, boosting brain and heart health, and improving memory, fat loss, focus, muscle growth, strength, testosterone production, and athletic performance (2).

Valerian Root Extract

Valerian root extract comes from a plant native to Asia and Europe that is known to interact with the GABA neurotransmitters in the brain to prevent issues that cause people trouble sleeping, such as high levels of anxiety and stress.

It is particularly popular in natural sleep aids as it is extremely effective at helping people fall asleep, while being extremely mild and never linked to any side effects (3).

GABA

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) is a neurotransmitter that is present in the brain of every adult mammal and is vital for inhibiting certain neurological receptors.

Scientific research has shown heightened GABA levels will help people to feel much calmer and relaxed, be less excitable, and get less anxious or mentally and physically stressed. All of this is essential if you want to avoid having trouble falling asleep (4).

5-HTP

5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan) is an amino acid that has an essential role in ensuring the brain can effectively produce the neurotransmitter serotonin.

As serotonin can cross the blood brain barrier far more easily than most other compounds, boosting its production with 5-htp will promote sleep quality, relaxation, and fat loss improvements, while relieving stress, anxiety, depression, and hunger cravings, all of which will effect your sleep wake cycle (5).

L-Theanine

L-theanine is another amino acid that can help to regulate your sleep patterns. A few studies have shown that it can reduce stress and anxiety, improve your ability to relax, boost your level of focus, and enhance your immune and cognitive functions, as well as your overall health and well being.

When you put all of these benefits together, l-theanine can induce sleep and improve sleep quality, to ensure that you get a better night's sleep all around (6).

Magnesium

Magnesium supplements are extremely useful for sleep, as well as many other things, as they contain a mineral that plays a part in more than 600 different reactions in the cells of the human body.

Scientific research shows that magnesium supplementation can induce relaxation and calmness, soothe sore or aching muscles, and help to treat or prevent some of the most common causes of sleep disorders, such as dehydration and cramping, to create ideal sleeping conditions (7).

Calcium

The mineral calcium is a well known component of dairy products that is most associated with its ability to keep your bones, joints, and heart strong and healthy. Calcium can also provide many benefits beyond this too though, such as reducing oestrogen production and boosting your testosterone levels.

As far as sleep goes, calcium can also help you to drift off quicker and achieve a deeper sleep, ensuring that you get a good night's sleep and wake up feeling totally fresh and rested each morning (8).

Vitamin D

Vitamin d is a fat soluble vitamin that plays countless roles in the human body. High vitamin d levels will aid protein synthesis and testosterone production, prevent fat storage, limit oestrogen production, and boost body composition, while a vitamin d deficiency can lead to countless health problems.

The main reason for its inclusion in natural sleep aids though is for the relaxing, calming effect that it has, which will boost your mood and make it easier for you to fall asleep. It will also aid nutrient absorption and breakdown, recovery, and energy production too, which will make you feel fresher when you wake up (9).

Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) is a vitamin consisting of 6 compounds that between them control more than 140 different coenzyme reactions in the human body.

It is often used in natural sleep aids for accelerating the biosynthesis of neurotransmitters, keeping the brain cells healthy and functioning, improving sleep quality, boosting metabolism, testosterone levels, and recovery time, and treating insomnia and other issues that give people trouble sleeping (10).

Vitamin B12

Vitamin b12 (cobalamin) is essential to keep the brain cells, bone marrow, DNA, hormones, nerves, and red blood cells healthy, functioning, and being produced at a high level.

It is very useful in natural sleep aids as it can promote restful sleep and recovery, boost your metabolism, prevent fatigue, and even combat some of the primary insomnia causes, such as Alzheimer’s disease, brain fog, depression, mental decline, mood swings, and vascular dementia (11).

Tart Cherry Juice

Admittedly, tart cherry juice is one of the newer ingredients being used in natural sleep aids, so more research is needed to conclusively prove some of its claimed sleep benefits (12).

That said, a few studies on complementary and integrative health have shown promising results that it may improve physical recovery, muscle function, and exercise performance, reduce inflammation and muscle soreness, boost melatonin production and sleep quality, and even treat some issues that cause poor sleep.

Activities That Improve Sleep Quality

Put Essential Oils In Your Sleep Area

While not as effective as dietary supplements that you actually ingest, essential oils like lavender oil have also been shown to be of some use to people with insomnia or those who are suffering with sleep issues.

By placing a few drops on your pillow or around your sleeping area, they can provide a calming effect that will help you to drift off much quicker.

While more research is needed on exactly how lavender essential oil works, it being safer and cheaper than most other medications for sleep makes it a fairly low risk way to go about trying to improve sleep quality (13).

Be Careful What You Eat Before Bed

The things that you eat or drink directly before going to bed are well known to play a huge role in the sleep duration and quality that you enjoy.

While a glass of warm milk can help treat insomnia and make it easier to drift off, eating foods rich in sugar or salt can cause high blood pressure or blood sugar spikes, both of which will lead to poor sleep quality.

Try to eat or drink a small amount of something warm that consists mostly of healthy fats as your last meal before going to bed. This will make you feel relaxed and satiated, without bloating you, so that you can drift off quickly and then sleep the whole way through the night (14).

Engage In Exercise

Perhaps one of the most well known ways to ensure that you get better sleep is by engaging in exercise.

Not only will physically exerting yourself make you more tired to begin with, but it will also boost the release of the hormones that promote slow wave sleep, reset your circadian cycle, and relieve stress and a variety of other issues known to cause sleep disorders (15).

Utilise Relaxation Techniques

There are a wide variety of activities available that the National Sleep Foundation has proven promote relaxation, such as massage therapy, mindfulness meditation, taking a sauna, and performing yoga poses.

By engaging in any of these activities, you put your body in a calm state that is ideal to help you drift off as quickly as possible and then enjoy a high quality of sleep once you have (16). The more of them that you utilise, the better your overall sleep experience will be.

The Best Natural Sleep Aid Supplement – RestAgain

When looking for the best natural sleep aid supplement, you will obviously want to choose a product that contains as many of the ingredients that we looked at above as possible. This is why we highly suggest that you give RestAgain a try, as it contains all of them bar one.

With a formula consisting of melatonin, vitamin d, vitamin b6, vitamin b12, ashwagandha root extract, 5-htp, GABA, l-theanine, valerian root extract, magnesium, and calcium, it can improve sleep from every angle.

It can boost recovery, relaxation, calmness, and sleep quality, latency, and duration, optimise your sleep wake cycle, combat anxiety, depression, and stress, and provide countless other health benefits, such as regulating brain waves and even reducing your risk of heart disease.

This means that it can be used for everything from treating insomnia and jet lag to preventing daytime sleepiness. Not only that, but containing only optimal doses of high quality, scientifically proven ingredients also ensures that you can enjoy all of this without the risk of experiencing any unpleasant side effects.

Throw in a more than reasonable price tag that means it also offers great value, and RestAgain is easily the best natural sleep supplement available to use as part of your upgraded sleep routine.

Pros

Contains virtually all of the best natural sleep aids

All of its ingredients are high quality, scientifically proven, and optimally dosed

Helps to improve every part of your sleep wake cycle

Can treat most known sleep problems and their causes

Will not cause any side effects

Very reasonably priced and offers great value

Cons

As a fairly new sleep supplement, reviews from past customers are still quite limited

Shop RestAgain Deals

Final Thoughts On The Best Natural Sleep Remedies

When it comes to making sure that you get enough sleep at night, the more steps you take to combat the issue, the better chance you have of resolving it completely. This means it's vital that you build an effective routine of diet, exercise, relaxation techniques, and sleep aids, to completely optimise your sleep hygiene.

As far as sleep supplements go, we would highly suggest you try RestAgain. Packed with optimal doses of virtually all of the top known natural sleep aids, it can combat any sleep problems and boost the quality of sleep that you get from almost every angle, all while being free from side effects and extremely good value.

If you be sure to take the required daily dose of RestAgain in addition to a following a healthy diet, eating and drinking the right things at the right times, exercising, and making use of proven relaxation techniques, we can guarantee that the difference you see in your sleep quality will be night and day.

Resources:

https://www.endocrinology-journals.org/What-Is-Melatonin.html

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8462692/#:~:text=A%20total%20of%20five%20randomized,%3B%20I2%20%3D%2062%25

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4394901/

https://centertrt.org/blog/how-long-does-gaba-need-to-work.html

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8181734/#:~:text=5%2DHydroxytryptophan%20(5%2DHTP,in%20older%20adults%20is%20unclear

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9017334/#:~:text=It%20is%20commonly%20used%20to,brain%20(11%E2%80%9313)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3703169/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3866235/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8912284/#:~:text=Growing%20evidence%20has%20demonstrated%20that,13%2C14%2C15%5D

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6727359/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8123316/

https://examine.com/supplements/tart-cherry-juice

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK246974/#:~:text=A%20majority%20of%20the%20study,people%20with%20mild%20sleep%20disturbances

.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33549913/#:~:text=The%20NIH%20Quality%20Assessment%20Tools,associated%20with%20worse%20sleep%20features

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5385214/#:~:text=Twenty%2Dnine%20studies%20concluded%20that,and%20intensity%20of%20exercise%20intervention

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279320/#:~:text=How%20do%20relaxation%20techniques%20work,a%20bit%20longer%20at%20night