From Insomnia to Serenity: A Guide to Using Natural Products for Sleep Improvement

Living in a world that values multi-tasking and a fast-paced way of life can make transitioning into a simplified bedtime routine a challenge. Attention can often be split between work and personal life, as well as the constant focus on what’s next. Although practical for managing our daily demands, being constantly engaged can be problematic when attempting to quiet one’s mind before bed. This can result in insomnia, a pattern of having difficulty falling and staying asleep.

What Keeps People Awake at Night

Exposure to different stressors throughout the day can be a major sleep disruption as the aches and challenges settle in for the night. Stress isn’t exclusive to emotions, as it’s a physiological nervous system response to one’s environment.

When an individual encounters habitual pressures, it manifests in high sleep reactivity, or an interruption of the sleep cycle. Even while resting, a highly reactive mind can remain on high alert, making it difficult for a person to gain the benefits of a full night’s rest.

Sleep-inhibiting anxiety may come from work-life imbalance, discomfort, overstimulating environments, or even from the stress of trying to fall asleep.

Ways to Cultivate a Calming Sleep Environment

To mitigate the challenges of insomnia, setting the foundation for a good night’s sleep begins with modifying the environment to become more conducive to relaxation. Although people can’t always control outside stressors affecting insomnia, managing one’s sleep environment is a practical first step to facing these challenges with greater ease of mind.

The key to a serene sleep environment is engaging one’s senses.

Creating a Visually Inviting Environment

Lighting can deter or encourage sleep, depending on its color temperature. Blue light seen on screens disrupts circadian rhythms, while warm lighting can make someone drowsy. Salt Lamps or LED candles can mimic the warm glow that promotes a better night’s sleep.

Dispersing Tranquil Aromas

Scent can have a gentle calming effect that produces a feeling of safety. Soothing aroma diffusers transform a room into a sleep haven with tranquil aromas such as lavender, vanilla, or eucalyptus.

Cozy Flavors That Promote Relaxation

Drinking a non-caffeinated, warm cup of tea before bed can help with stress reduction and allows for some self-care before bed. Curling up with a good book and a big cup of tea is a fantastic alternative to harmful blue-screen devices.

Soothing Sounds for Sleep

Noisy surroundings disrupt sleep and are hard to avoid when living in busy environments. To address this, people can use a noise machine, wear earplugs, or a comfortable sleep headband with built-in headphones.

Nurturing Physical Comfort

Opting for sleepwear that promotes comfort such as soft, warm clothes in the winter or fresh, breathable materials in the summer can help regulate body temperature based on your comfort preferences.

Optimal bedding promotes better sleep habits, as it cuts down on making uncomfortable adjustments in the middle of the night. Temperature-controlled blankets or weighted blankets can completely change a person’s quality of sleep.

Tending to any physical aches and pains is important to sleep hygiene as physical discomfort can lead to interrupted sleep. Solutions such as gummies for sleep are a convenient and simple addition to those who need additional sleep support.

Digitally Disconnecting Before Bed

For many, drifting off to sleep with a phone in hand is a common nightly routine. Cell phones are addictive by nature, feeding into the mind’s natural desire to pattern-detect and seek dopamine through new, interesting bits of information.

Detaching from one’s digital dependence isn’t easy, but the rewards of building better habits are worth it.

Planning Tonight for Peace of Mind Tomorrow

If you focus on managing what you can control, rather than fixating on what you can’t, you can become more solutions-oriented about your nightly peace of mind. Taking actionable steps that address your daily stressors may improve sleep-reactivity, the main culprit of insomnia.

For those who find themselves lying awake worried about upcoming responsibilities, it could help to face those problems strategically with self-knowledge and compassion in a way that works best for you.

Planning, even if it’s a short to-do list for tomorrow, can bring someone a sense of tranquility. If you are often late, you can try and streamline the processes that cause friction in the morning.

Setting tomorrow’s clothes out on a chair, placing all the necessary items you’ll need for tomorrow’s meeting in a visible location, and prepping lunch ahead of time are all small actions that can lay the foundation for a smoother day. A smoother day can lead to a deeper sense of tranquility, and a decrease in rumination that would otherwise influence insomnia.