What are natural treatments for insomnia?

Natural remedies and proper sleep hygiene will take care of day to day insomnia. When severe, some medications can be helpful and others harmful.

For those with CFS and fibromyalgia, which represents a severe sleep disorder, it is not uncommon to sometimes need to take even 6-8 different products simultaneously to get 8 hours of sleep at night until the sleep center recovers.

Lifestyle habits:

• Do not consume alcohol near bedtime or caffeine after 4:00 pm.
• Do not use your bed for problem solving or doing work.
• Take a hot bath before bed.
• Keep your bedroom cool.
• If your partner snores, consider a separate bedroom.

Recommended nutritional supplements:

• For regular insomnia, herbal sleep supplements are usually enough to get you sleeping. Natural ingredients that can help sleep include theanine, Jamaican Dogwood, wild lettuce, valerian, passionflower, and hops.
• Calcium 500 mg taken at bedtime.
• Magnesium 200 mg taken at bedtime.
• Melatonin 3/10-1 mg taken at bedtime.

Avoid Valium related sleep aids, which are addictive and worsen sleep quality (Klonopin and Xanax are addictive, but are useful in some settings). Ambien, Desyrel, and Neurontin are helpful medications for sleep if natural aids don't work.

Melatonin: Melatonin has been studied for delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS), insomnia in the elderly, sleep disturbances in children with neuro-psychiatric disorders, and sleep enhancement in healthy individuals. Although study results are promising, additional research with larger studies is needed before a conclusion can be made.

Caution is advised when taking melatonin supplements, as numerous adverse effects including drug interactions are possible. Melatonin is not recommended during pregnancy or breastfeeding, unless otherwise advised by a doctor. Melatonin should not be used long-term (nightly for more than four weeks). Case reports raise concerns about risks of blood clotting abnormalities (particularly in patients taking warfarin), increased risk of seizure, and disorientation with overdose.

Music therapy: Music is used to influence physical, emotional, cognitive and social well-being, and improve quality of life for healthy people, as well as those who are disabled or ill. It may involve either listening to or performing music, with or without the presence of a music therapist. In older adults music may result in significantly better sleep quality as well as longer sleep duration, greater sleep efficiency, shorter time needed to fall asleep, less sleep disturbance and less daytime dysfunction. There is also evidence of benefit in elementary age children who use music during naptime and bedtime. Music therapy is generally known to be safe.

You should read product labels, and discuss all therapies with a qualified healthcare provider. Natural Standard information does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Since nighttime is often a time when our busy days of work, stress, and distraction finally wind down, we believe the nighttime may be the first chance your brain has to process your life and the day. At this time, thoughts race through and can keep us up. Keeping nighttime rituals, including getting to bed at the same time (preferably between 10 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.), using orange lighting one hour before bed, shutting down all computers, cell phones, and bright lights, as well as sipping calming herbal teas, like chamomile and linden, can be very helpful.

Temporarily, we may also recommend natural sleep aids such as melatonin, tryptophan, valerian, or some calming aids like passionflower and theanine to help reset your body rhythms. Chinese formulas like Bu Nao Wan or Suan Zao Ren Tang can help calm the mind and induce healthy sleep.

If you spend your nights tossing, turning and staring at the ceiling, you don't need a drug, says integrative medicine expert and Dr. Oz Show guest Bryce Wylde. In this video, he shares his favorite natural cure for insomnia.

Relaxation techniques are considered a standard form of treatment for insomnia by sleep professionals, and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. These techniques include:

• Muscle relaxation exercises
• Deep breathing exercises
• Imagery and visualization

These effective therapeutic practices are inexpensive, drug free, easy to learn and integrate into a daily routine, and can be very effective in improving sleep. Non-pharmaceutical sleep remedies are attractive to many people who don’t want to use medication to treat their insomnia and other sleep problems. This often leads people to seek other options in an area known as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). CAM is defined by the National Institutes of Health as "a group of health care systems, practices, and products that are not generally considered part of conventional medicine." The NIH estimates that as many as 38% of adults in the United States use some form of CAM, most often in conjunction with conventional medicine, rather than in place of it.

Calms Forte is a great remedy for insomnia. This blend of herbs traditionally used for calming, plus minerals soothing to the nervous system, can be used for daytime anxiety or nighttime insomnia. It’s very mild and might not be strong enough for some people.

Specific homeopathic remedies can be more effective, such as Ignatia, which is called “the rehearsal remedy.” It’s used for people who lie in bed and keep going over relationships that are upsetting to them, “rehearsing” what they wish they had said or what they might say the next time they see the person.

Homeopathic remedies won’t work unless they match your symptoms, though, so if that’s not your insomnia pattern, you probably need another remedy.

Of course also practice “sleep hygiene”

• eliminate electronics from your bedroom
• don’t watch TV news just before going to bed as it can be upsetting and startle you awake
• don’t drink caffeine in the afternoon or evening

and other common sense things like that.

For more information about Calms Forte and Ignatia, see my book A Healer In Every Home.