The natural way to a good night's sleep

Thursday, 19 February 2009

A good night's sleep is essential to refresh and restore mind and body - but sadly many of us as we get older tend to suffer from insomnia.

A failure to sleep well can affect general health, productivity and well being at any age. Many rely on sleeping tablets but while these do work they, in common with other medications, carry a number of undesirable side effects.

It is best to cut out caffeine drinks an hour or two before bed and replace with a warm milk, Horlicks, Ovaltine or cocoa. Indulge in a warm bath with lavender oil. In bed try a pillow filled with lavender, peppermint, rose leaves and verbena or simply spray lavender oil on your pillowcase. Pamper yourself or your partner with a soothing foot massage with peppermint foot cream. You can also use sleep inducing foods containing the calming amino acid, tryptophan - lettuce is well known for its sedative qualities but it is now known that it is a good idea to eat carbohydrate foods such as wholegrain cereals in the evening and reserve protein meals to perk you up in daytime.

There are a number of wonderful sleep inducing herbs that you can take either in tablet form such as night time Kalms or as a soothing tea. Chamomile tea is a great night cap and for a good night's sleep 2 teabags are recommended to one cup. You can also make teas from the following herbs: valerian, hops, skullcap and passionflower. These can be sweetened with honey. But if you don't fancy any of these just buy yourself some over the counter herbal sleeping tablets. Always seek advice from a qualified health practitioner or pharmacist especially if you are on medications for other conditions.

  What's this?