Every night the same story, you go to bed and go round and round can’t sleep? Out of desperation, did you even start “counting sheep” to no avail? You are not alone! In fact, almost one in three Italians sleep an insufficient number of hours and one in seven reports an unsatisfactory quality of their sleep.
Furthermore, from the preliminary results of a survey carried out to evaluate the impact of the lockdown, it emerged that the Italians who report having insufficient sleep increased by 22% and those who declare an unsatisfactory quality of their sleep more than doubled (+ 128% ).
Could this be the reason why everyone seems a little out of phase?! In this article you will find out what you can use to fall asleep quickly without difficulty.
What not to do before going to bed
You know that many have problems falling asleep but do not know that certain actions make the situation even worse. It’s like saying: “I want to lose weight” but then eat sweets and chips every day! So it is useless to complain of not being able to sleep and at the same time continue to carry out behaviors that stress the nervous system.
So here is a tip of the things you absolutely must not do if you want to be able to fall asleep quickly , like a baby who has just had milk.
- Don’t stay on your phone / tablet / pc in bed or just before going to sleep. In this way, in fact, the brain is bombarded with images and information that then lead you to think and so you can no longer relax.
- Do not watch tension or horror movies, because even in this case the brain goes into a state of alert and then it takes time to return to normal. So when you go to bed you certainly won’t fall asleep as soon as you touch the pillow.
- Don’t eat heavy. If you have something left on your stomach, you will hardly find a comfortable position to relax and sleep peacefully.
- Don’t drink coffee. If you have difficulty sleeping and drink 2/3 coffee during the day, let’s say you are looking for it! Coffee is an exciting drink that stimulates the nervous system and creates agitation. Not to mention that it also consumes your last remaining energy. In this way you enter a loop: you are agitated so you struggle to sleep, you wake up tired, you drink coffee to try to stay awake, you also burn the last remaining energy reserves by overstimulating the nervous system, but still you are agitated and, when the evening comes , goodbye restful sleep.
In addition to giving up these bad habits, do you know what can help you? Escolzia!
Escolzia is one of the natural remedies you can count on, let’s see why.
Using Escolzia to sleep better
An excellent help to reconcile sleep, when not even the most soporific of books can do it, is the Escolzia (Eschscholtzia californica Cham).
Escolzia is a plant that belongs to the Papaveraceae family and also known with the name “California poppy”. The areas in which it develops spontaneously are California and the steppes of the northern part of Mexico. It is a perennial herbaceous plant that grows on dry and sandy soils.
In the 19th century it was introduced in Europe as an ornamental plant, especially for its beautiful white, yellow or orange flowers, while in native areas it was traditionally used by peasant populations as an analgesic and sedative.
Escolzia is known above all for its hypno- inducing (inducing sleep), sedative and analgesic properties.
The natives of America also used its boiled leaves to treat problems with intestinal colic, biliary and toothache. They also used it externally to heal ulcerations.
These properties are linked to the presence of alkaloids, in particular protopin, which are found in the aerial part of the plant.
These substances act both on the cardiac and nervous levels, in particular:
- They favor the normalization of pressure
- They induce muscle relaxation and stimulate sleep
- They perform an antispasmodic and pain relieving function in the intestine
With its intake you can have several benefits such as:
- Help relaxation in case of anxiety and stress
- Reduce sleep times and improve sleep quality
Contraindications of Escolzia
Escolzia is a medicinal plant with strong relaxing properties and for this reason it is not recommended for those who take drugs for hypotension and arrhythmias. In fact, this plant can induce a slowing of the heartbeat and therefore can lead to a consequent lowering of pressure, in case you already use drugs.
Its use is also not recommended in case of contextual intake of anxiolytics, sleeping pills or antidepressant drugs. Finally, it is not indicated for use by children, pregnant and lactating women.
L’Escolzia is fantastic on its own, it is even more so in a team!
In fact, Escolzia acts even better when it is flanked by Valeriana, Luppolo and Tiglio.
In particular, a study showed that Eschscholtzia californica used together with Valeriana officinalis in the form of a dietary supplement produces an improvement in the quality and duration of sleep. Furthermore, by improving the nocturnal appearance, a decrease in daytime disorders related to insomnia is obtained.
Valerian ( Valeriana officinalis L.) is famous for its relaxing properties , in particular it helps fight anxiety, counteract muscle tension and promote sleep making it deeper and more regenerating .
Hops (Humulus lupulus L.) are indicated to relieve mental stress and to help sleep. Specifically, the part of the plant that is used for these functions is the inflorescence.
Linden ( Tilia platyphyllos et cordata) is very rich in active ingredients that are beneficial for the body, such as flavonoids, essential oils, mineral salts, vitamin C. It is mostly known as a great sleep remedy! In fact, thanks to the use of its flowers, cortisol levels, which increase in case of stress and worries, tend to drop. In this way anxiety and stress are relieved and thus the quality of sleep improves.
Now that you’ve discovered your new allies for fast sleep, I know you can’t wait to try them out!
You can benefit from these plants by using them in the form of infusions just before going to bed or, since the taste of these plants, especially that of Valerian, is not the most pleasant, you can rely on food supplements in capsules that contain these plants in the form of dry extracts titrated!
The titrated dry extract is the best form of processing of the plant because it always guarantees the constant presence of the active ingredient and therefore gives the guarantee of the effectiveness of the product. If you want to have all the benefits of these fantastic plants, you can find them in Serena Notte di Salugea.