Natural Sleep Support: Herbs For a Good Night's Sleep and Quality Rest
Sleep is such an underated, precious, commodity. I consider sleep to be one of the main pillars of health that influences our vitality and wellbeing.
Why?
Because sleep is critical for hormone balance, brain function, memory and learning ability, metabolic health, regulated blood pressure levels and so much more.
This is why, if you've noticed, when you're not getting enough sleep - you wake up the next day feeling anxious, moody, your appetite is affected, your energy levels are down, and your memory and cognitive skills are not at their best.
When you're sleeping, it may not look like you're doing much, but sleep is when your body recalibrates, detoxifies, rebuilds and repairs itself.
This is important "down-time" for your body.
Which is why optimizing your sleep so that you can wake up feeling rested, refreshed and renewed, and functioning at your best should be at the top of your self-care to-do list.
And before leaping to extremes, like taking sleep medication or melatonin tablets, you'll be relieved to know that there are natural solutions for better sleep such as herbs.
What Causes Poor Sleep?
For most people, poor sleep stems from a combination of factors, both internal and external. Causes of poor sleep are:
- A stressful lifesyle: Modern society urges you to work harder, do more, produce faster, and acheive constantly. A stressfule life leaves little room for relaxation that promotes healthy sleep.
- Poor Sleep hygiene: Is your room to bright, too cold, too hot or too noisy? This will make it harder for you to sleep well. If your bed is uncomfortable, or if you use your bedroom for work during the day, this will also make it hard for you to get good sleep.
- Mental and physical conditions: Anxiety, depression, and other stress-based disorders can disrupt your mood and sleep. Chronic pain, hot flashes, night sweats, restless leg syndrome or other health conditions may leave you wide awake, unable to get comfortable enough to drift off to a good night's sleep.
- Medications: Certain steriods, antidepressants and other types of medicine can potentially cause insomnia or worsen it.
- Lifestyle factors: This can include things like your workshift schedule, frequent travel and jet lag, unhealthy relationship dynamics, and drinking caffeine or other stimulants like alcohol around your sleep-time.
You may find some of these factors easy to change and others nearly impossible to change. Knowing how to work around these challenges, while also giving yourself natural support via herbs helps you control what you can.
Benefits of Using Herbs for Better Sleep
Herbs are some of our greatest medicincal and healing allies. And, variety is one of the best benefits of herbs because they target multiple factors that can interrupt your deep sleep.
Below, we'll be discussing herbs and natural supplements you can purchase from the apothecary to improve your sleep. These herbal remedies lack the unwanted side-effects that prescription and over-the-counter medication often cause.
Consider these options while putting other sleep supporting habits in place, like establishing a bedtime routine, getting to bed earlier, limiting your screen time before bed, addressing your racing thoughts, and dealing with any underlying stress triggers.
1. Ashwagandha for Natural Sleep Support
Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is an adaptogenic herb I often utilize for stress support, adrenal and thyroid function. It has a long history of use in Ayurvedic medicine and comes with many benefits, including the potential to reduce stress, feelings of anxiousness, and symptoms related to depression.
Ashwagandha is in the nightshade family, like tomatoes and peppers, but the root if the plant is used for it's medicinal properties. As an adaptogen, one of the main benefitss of this herb is it's ability to help us adapt and build resilience to stress.
Stress is a common cause of poor sleep. Research shows that the amino acids present in ashwagandha helps improve brain function, calm the overly excitable nervous system, and work to balance natural sleep cycles (and reduces the time it takes to fall asleep).
You'll find Ashwagandha in our Nervous & Mood Support, Adrenal Support and Thyroid Support formula.
2. Lemon Balm for Natural Sleep Support
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) is an aromatic herb in the mint family that is considered a nervine because it calms and rejuvenates the nervous system. Native to Europe, this herb is grown all around the world now.
When I first started studying and using herbs years ago, this was one of my favorite herbs to work with, because of how effective it was at soothing my nervous system and helping me calm my own anxiety.
Lemon balm benefits includes easing anxiety, promoting sleep, relieving insomnia and even supporting digestion. As a sleep aid, this herb and its active constituent rosmarinic acid acts on the GABA system in the body to slow down the central nervous system and improve sleep quality.
I love lemon balm because it is a gentle option. You can incorporate lemon balm into your night-time routine for sleep as an herbal tea enjoyed before bed or as a supplement.
Generally, this soothing herb is often combined with other calming herbs like lavender, chamomile and valerian to enhance it's natural benefits.
You'll find Lemon Balm in our Calm Mood Tea, Nervous & Mood Support and Mood Support Tincture.
3. Lavender for Natural Sleep Support
Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) is an evergreen plant native to the Mediterranean region that has a popular scent and is used as medicine and aromatherapy.
Lavender comes from the Latin word "lavare", meaning "to wash". Because of this lavender plant is considered a purifier for both the body and mind.
Lavender has been long known to help improve sleep quality, treat insomnia and anxiety disorders, and reduce restlessness. Since ancient times, lavender has been used as a sleep aid, digestion aid, and tranqualizer for people who are anxious, restless or troubled.
Some studies suggest that lavender can increase melatonin levels, which can help with sleep.
Drinking lavender tea and using the essential oils of lavender both carry the same benefits.
You'll find lavender in our Calm Mood Tea.
4. Chamomile for Natural Sleep Support
Chamomile (Matricaria recutita) is one of the most widely used stress-relieving medicinal plants. Chamomile is a natural herb that has been used for centuries as a mild sedative to treat insomnia and other sleep problems.
Chamomile is known to work by relaxing the nervous system and binding to benzodiazepine receptors in the brain, which confirms its gentle tranqualizing action.
Chamomile helps you fall asleep fast, wake up less during the night, sleep longer and function better during the day.
It can be used as a tea infusion of the dried flowers or ethanolic extract. The most popular is chamomile tea, making it an easy option to incorporate into a soothing, relaxing bedtime routine.
You'll find chamomile in our Calm Mood Tea.
Achieve a Good Night's Sleep
The process of fixing your sleep issues is no small task. Fortunately, herbal supplements offers you a proven, all-natural starting point on your journey to better quality sleep and a good night's rest.
As always, I encourage natural remedies to reach a healthier, happier, more balanced you.
The world may not slow down for you, but you can slow down the stress in your body and mind with herbs that pave a way to restful sleep.
Supplements in the apothcary with these sleep-inducing herbs are our Calm Mood Tea, Nervous & Mood Support and Mood Support Tincture
Love and Health,
Shavonne