After a long day of kid wrangling you can’t wait for your head to hit the pillow, you finally get your baby/kids to sleep but your feeling tired and wired, now you can’t sleep! Hours pass and you finally drift off, but then your little one wakes for a feed, a cry or if they are older a drink, or because they’ve dropped their soft toy (or they want to ask you random questions like do starfish have eyes??) and then you can’t get back to sleep again! So you lay awake in the early hours of the morning scrolling through social media and checking emails before you finally fall asleep and the cycle starts over. Sound familiar? This makes an already tired mumma extra tired and exhausted because not only is your quantity of sleep disturbed but your quality is disturbed too. So how can we use natural sleep remedies to improve our quality of sleep in these early years?
Dim the lights - Darkness promotes melatonin production whereas bright lights tell your brain to stop making melatonin, the signal that its time to wake up! Where possible, try to block out street lights by closing your blinds/curtains, turn off any lights and lamps in the house and avoid lights from alarm clocks and especially the blue light from your phone. Most phones have a blue blocker function, otherwise just avoid phone use an hour before bed. Studies have shown that blue light interferes with melatonin production and also suppresses sleep inducing delta brainwaves whilst boosting alpha brainwaves which create alertness.
Increase Tryptophan foods – The amino acid Tryptophan helps to boost melatonin production and therefore aid in sleep onset and maintenance (until a little one wakes you of course!). Including these foods at night can help promote a more restful sleep and include almonds, cashews, brazil nuts, banana, oats, eggs, yoghurt, spirulina, soybeans, meat/fish, rice, chickpeas, milk, quinoa and potatoes. A cup of milk (your choice of plant based or dairy) warmed up witha little cinnamon can be a nice bedtime tradition to help get you to the land of nod.
Avoid Stimulants – Stimulants such as sugar, caffeine, computers, tv and smart phones all stimulate the nervous system. So if you have trouble getting off to sleep (and staying asleep) it is best to avoid these things at night or at least in the hours before bedtime.
Support the Adrenals – Often the tired and wired feeling comes from adrenal fatigue and dysfunction in the release of stress hormones. You are so exhausted but due to chronic stress and overwhelm your body keeps trying to pump out adrenaline which in term makes it hard to sleep no matter how tired you are. Supporting your adrenals is very important for sleep. Taking adaptogen herbs such as Withania, Rhodiola and Maca during the day can help as well as important nutrients for the adrenals such as Vitamin C, Magnesium and B Vitamins. Trying to limit stressors and prioritising down time all helps support healthy adrenal function too.
Natural Sedative Herbs – There are many wonderful calming herbs that have natural sedative and anti anxiety affects such as Passionflower, Skullcap, Vervain, Valerian, Chamomile, Lemon Balm, Zizyphus, Magnolia and Reishi Mushroom which can be taken an hour before bed in the form of a tincture, tablet or tea and then upon waking if needed.
Flower Essences – Flower essences are great for addressing any emotional and mental obstacles to a good night sleep such as anxiety, fear, worry and overthinking. Essences such as Dog Rose, Paw Paw, Green Spider Orchid and Crowea are all great for calming the mind and promoting a good nights sleep. You will find many of these alongside calming passionflower, lemon balm and chamomile in the 'Calm Tonic' available in the botanical store to help aid in a good nights rest.
Magnesium – A very common mineral deficiency in women today is Magnesium. This mineral is wonderful for calming the nervous system via increasing the hormone GABA, responsible for relaxation. It is also an important nutrient for supporting adrenal function and regulating the release of stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol as mentioned above. You can take magnesium before bed in the form of a powder or tablet and you can also soak in magnesium chloride such as in the 'Dreamtime Bath Soak' in the botanical store or use a magnesium oil to apply to the skin.
Bedtime Routine – Just as children benefit from a night time routine to help them sleep, so do adults! Sleep routines begin with cues that help us to associate them with sleep. This could be things like a cup of herbal tea, a book, a soak in the bath and applying some sleepy herbal balm such as the 'Dreamtime Balm' as well as switching off electronics and making the room dark. These will all help to trigger sleep association in your brain each night before bed to encourage sleep.
Although our children waking regularly in the night may be the biggest of our sleep obstacles, there are many other things that we can do to ensure that when we actually get the chance to sleep, we are making the most of that time by getting good quality, restorative sleep!