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5 Proven Natural Insomnia Remedies to Help Your Sleep Schedule

November 2021 | 5 Minute Read

Clean beauty industry maven Mary Futher founded kaia naturals® after spending 20 years working for global beauty companies. Mary now shares her weekly content series, delivering a quick fix, home remedy, or clean beauty product suggestion for a variety of human discomforts that some may find too embarrassing to discuss.

For years, I have suffered from insomnia. Lying in bed at 4:00 am wide awake, staring at the ceiling, I am often triggered by worry and anxiety of impending deadlines and endless things to do. There are some things over the years that I have gathered to help me get a sound sleep. There’s no better time to start fixing your sleep, there are five simple natural insomnia remedies that I recommend to help you get your sleep back on track.

1. Choose the Right Food

This natural insomnia remedy is often the answer to many ailments we deal with. Diet contributes to your body the most and it’s most important to understand what your body needs to feel its healthiest.

There are a couple of suggestions here depending on if you are having trouble falling asleep, or if you are having trouble staying asleep, and quite frankly, for me, it’s both.

Snack on foods high in tryptophan at night, as tryptophan helps produce a hormone that promotes sleep. Foods that contain tryptophan include pumpkin seeds, turkey, tofu, eggs, walnuts, and seaweed.

Your blood sugar may be dropping during the night. When blood sugar drops, your body kicks up the production of stress hormones, anxiously waking you up at night. Try a small snack containing complex carbohydrates to prevent these blood sugar dips. Some of my faves include sweet potatoes, beans, nuts, quinoa, and steel-cut oats. Food fixes most things, this natural insomnia remedy is one of the easiest to include.

2. Avoid Screen Time After Sunset

The next natural insomnia remedy is to put your phone away at least 1-2 hours before bed. Technology screens emit blue light to our eyes, which triggers our brain to stop producing melatonin (our sleep hormone). Sometimes the very little things you read trigger more things to worry about. So, steer clear of those emails and texts, and clear your mind.

I recommend reading 20 pages of a book every night. This will help you get a little tired before bed, and you’ll end up reading a full book before you know it. I try to leave my phone in the other room, and then snuggle in for a good read to help me sleep.

2. Avoid Screen Time After Sunset

3. Get Natural Light First Thing in the Morning

This natural insomnia remedy is to be done in the morning instead of right before bed. Aim for 30 minutes of sun exposure in the morning and if you can’t right in the morning, go for a walk during your lunch break.

Our bodies run on a 24-hour cycle called the circadian rhythm. It signals to our body when it’s time to eat, go to sleep, wake up, etc. To make sure that this rhythm stays intact, our body uses light as signal. Exposing yourself to sunlight during the day will help the circadian rhythm to set on the correct path.

Light has a lot of benefits, one including a boost in serotonin level, the hormone that makes you happy. The circadian rhythm focuses on the light and dark cycles of the day to ensure we feel tired when we’re supposed to, and signals when we should eat, etc. However, as the colder months approach and the days get shorter it’s important to expose yourself to natural light. Go for a quick walk at lunch, get some Vitamin D and your sleep and mood will improve more than you expected with the natural insomnia remedy.

4. Take a Bath

Taking a bath in hot water before bed is the easiest thing that helps me fall asleep. This is how it works: your core body temperature drops as your body works up a sweat from a hot bath. Our body temperature naturally decreases as evening rolls around, signalling to our body it’s time for sleep. The drop in body temperature post bath helps mimic this signal.

Taking a hot bath with a blend of essential oils has been proven to be better than just one scent such as lavender. It is believed that using a combination of several oils may have mood-enhancing effects that indirectly improve sleep by improving your mood. This is why I created the sleep detox hot bath salts to help fellow insomniacs relax before bed.

4. Take a Bath

5. Drinking Tea Before Bad- Is This Good or Bad?

Tea is nature’s calming brew. It is one of the most commonly consumed drinks in the world and is getting the attention of researchers for its healing and restoring properties. Research does show that sipping on caffeine-free hot herbal tea has a calming and soothing effect and can reduce stress and anxiety. I have created a sleep detox set that will fit perfectly in your night routine. I’ve selected the most perfect herbal tea along with some bath Epsom salts to soothe and relax your mind and body, you can find this set here.

5. Drinking Tea Before Bad- Is This Good or Bad?

Taking these natural insomnia remedies to calm the body and mind before bed reduces anxiety and increases my chances of falling asleep and then (fingers crossed, staying asleep).

Each week on my blog The Little Book of Human Discomforts I share clever solutions for seemingly embarrassing skin, body, and hair issues. Consider subscribing below to be the first to know when new content is live! I also share lots of body and skincare tips on Instagram @kaianaturals and on my TikTok page @madamesweat.

The information provided in this blog is taken from Mbg health, Mbg health (2), UT Southwestern Medical Center, US National Library of Medicine, Sleep Foundation, Northwestern Medicine, The Washington Post, The Mayo Clinic

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