Natural Remedies and Tips for Beating Insomnia

If you sometimes have trouble getting to sleep at night, those television commercials for prescription sleep aids can be rather tempting when, in fact, you should always turn to natural cures for insomnia before making the leap to medication. Just as a man dying of thirst longs for water to drink an insomniac craves insomnia cures that translate into a good long uninterrupted night of solid sleep.

Natural cures for insomnia are often far more simple than one might think. Often people struggle to drop off to sleep at night because they are engaging in certain bad habits. For instance if you do not have a set bed time and set your alarm for the same time each morning then your body clock may be out of sync. If you do not get sufficient exercise or you use products that contain caffeine or nicotine you may find that it is difficult to switch your mind off at the end of the day.

Engaging in activities that excite your imagination before bed is also a bad idea. Save the family disputes, action movies, video games and page-turner novels for an earlier part of the day. If you cannot sleep after half an hour or so in bed then get up and do something else. Resist the urge to fixate on the fact that you cannot sleep and watch the clock. Thoughts about how much sleep you will get if you drop off in the next five minutes do not encourage rest. Remember that good sleep hygiene is the best of all natural cures for insomnia.

When looking for natural cures for insomnia do not forget to look at the potential causes for your sleeplessness. Do you have a physical problem such as urinary urge incontinence or a nasty cough? Is there something that is causing you undue stress and anxiety? Are you taking any new prescription medication that could be making it difficult to sleep? Often there is something causing the insomnia and once you find the issue and solve it sleep comes naturally once again.

Herbs and supplements are also excellent natural cures for insomnia. Many of these herbs and supplements have a natural sedative effect but they do not have as many side effects as prescription sleep aids. Melatonin, valerian root, chamomile, passion flower, tryptophan, motherwort and lemon balm are all natural solutions that you can purchase over-the-counter at your local drug store or health food shop.