Not sleeping all night is a common problem; according to what studies report, a large part of the world population suffers from sleep disorders such as insomnia, difficulty falling asleep and awakening at night. Not being able to sleep at night is also one of the main reasons why people turn to their doctor for advice or a miracle remedy that can help them regain a few hours of sleep. Sleeping well is essential for our well-being, for this reason we will tell you which are the most effective natural remedies to return in no time at all in the arms of Morpheus.
Common causes of sleeplessness
If for some time you have noticed that you can no longer sleep at night like before, then you should ask yourself a few questions about the lifestyle you have been following lately. A hectic and stressful lifestyle is among the most common causes of insomnia and sleep disorders, did you know?
Anxiety and stress negatively affect the quality of sleep, which is why it is important to learn how to manage them slowly and above all to leave them out of the bedroom. You go to bed with your head light and not heavy because it is crushed under infinite thoughts.
If you’ve had yet another fight with your boss at work or some colleague has made you nervous, try pushing the episode out of your mind with some meditation or breathing exercises. The results obtained by inhaling and exhaling deeply 4 consecutive times may surprise you.
There are numerous applications that offer free guided meditation exercises suitable even for those who have never done it before. They last a few minutes and are very effective. The sensations you will feel after having performed them will be those of:
- feel every part of the body relaxed
- feeling light-headed and thoughtless
- perceive the breath as slower and deeper
- feel a general feeling of well-being
Another very common cause of insomnia and difficulty falling asleep is the excessive use of smartphones and PCs.
How many hours do you spend in front of the mobile screen?
What if your smartphone is the cause of your insomnia problems?
You should know that the blue light that comes from the screens of mobile devices inhibits the body’s production of melatonin, because it makes the brain believe that it is still daytime.
Melatonin – also known as the sleep hormone – is produced by our body during the night and its function is to regulate the sleep-wake rhythm and indicates to the body that it is time to fall asleep.
If the light from the cell phone deceives the brain that the night is still far away, the body tends to remain alert and the production of melatonin is blocked.
If you can’t sleep at night, instead of going to bed with your smartphone and replying to messages or to the umpteenth email of the day (which could also wait …) try reading a good book, or listening to a relaxing piece of music, you will see that you will fall asleep much more easily.
When the symptoms indicate that it is insomnia
The symptoms of insomnia are different, among the most common we have:
- difficulty falling asleep
- light and irregular sleep
- being unable to sleep for more than 3 or 4 hours a night
If you have noticed that these ailments occur almost every night, it is very likely that you have really started suffering from insomnia. In this case, however, the advice is to talk to your doctor and get advice on what to do.
If the episodes, on the other hand, occur only infrequently and in conjunction with unpleasant or stressful events, it is simply some small sleep disorder that is very likely to be resolved without the need for special interventions.
The most effective natural remedies for sleeping through the night
Many people when they can’t sleep at night for more than a few days, first run to the pharmacy to beg the poor pharmacist on duty to give him something miraculous – and in most part also synthetic and very strong, damn it! – that makes them fall asleep right away. The problem with these drugs, however, and for which a prescription from your doctor would always be needed, is that even if they take effect immediately, in the long run they can become addictive and create uncomfortable addictive relationships that it would be better not to intertwine. Before moving on to synthetic medicines, the advice is to try natural remedies, which if taken constantly are equally effective and, moreover, are not addictive.
Here are some natural tips that you can follow right away to sleep at night.
For example, if you are unable to sleep at night due to anxiety, you could try to sedate it with the help of the titrated dry extracts of Griffonia, Giuggiolo, Lemon balm and Hawthorn, plants that have always been used for their relaxing and soothing properties. While if you suffer from insomnia due to other reasons you could try the titrated dry extracts of plants such as Valerian, Escolzia, Hops and Linden, which promote falling asleep and improve the quality of sleep.
A widely used remedy that do not recommend is melatonin, because if used for long periods it could create addiction and slow down its natural production by the pineal gland. Our body is intelligent and always tends to protect itself from possible dangers. To avoid that the melatonin it receives from the outside can add up to that produced by the epiphysis and therefore become excessive, its production decreases, in order to always remain in a state of equilibrium.
This means that when you decide to stop taking it your body will struggle a bit to synthesize it again and for you it will mean having to start again not to sleep all night.