How To Get A Good Night Sleep: 6 Natural Sleeping Aids
As we’ve all experienced, failing to get a good night’s sleep can result in grogginess, sleepiness, irritability, and trouble focusing the next day, among other concerns. However, the benefits of getting a good night’s sleep can extend even beyond resolving these issues. A wealth of research suggests that keeping a consistent sleep schedule can help you get sick less often, reduce stress, improve mood, think more clearly, and even reduce your risk of health problems like high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, depression, and obesity. If you’re looking to sleep better without the use of medications, see below for some natural tips.
Common causes of poor sleep
Sleep is a crucial element of health and well-being for everyone from infants to older adults. It’s a complex activity where a variety of important processes happen in stages. These include repairing tissue, releasing hormones, organizing information in the brain, and restoring energy, among many others. However, getting a good night’s sleep can sometimes seem as complex as the process of sleep itself.
How to get a good night sleep despite common sleep disruptions
There are many factors that may contribute to sleep problems or lack of sleep, such as:
Stress and/or racing thoughts
An inconsistent sleep schedule
Environmental disruptions (bright lights, noise, hot temperatures)
Hormonal changes
Being too hungry or too full
Depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions
Having consumed caffeine or alcohol too close to bedtime
Having taken a daytime nap that was too long
Insomnia, sleep apnea, or other clinical sleep disorders
These are just some elements of life and health that can make getting a good night’s sleep challenging. It may also be a combination of factors in some cases, or you may not know exactly why you’re not sleeping well. Regardless, there are strategies you can try in an effort to combat sleep deprivation.
Tips and tricks for improving sleep quality naturally
Figuring out which strategies might help decrease your sleep disruptions can take some time and experimentation, but feeling rested and reaping the potential health benefits of quality sleep can be worth it. The non-pharmacological tips below may be worth considering.
1. Avoid screens an hour or two before bed for better sleep quality
Phones, tablets, and computer screens have become a daily part of life for many people, but using them too often or too close to bedtime could interfere with your circadian rhythm. One reason is that these devices emit blue light, which some studies suggest could affect the body’s natural production of melatonin, a sleep hormone. Although evidence in this area remains inconclusive, avoiding screens before bed could still be a good idea. Doing work, reading the news, scrolling on social media, playing video games, and engaging in other activities on these devices too close to your target sleep time could increase stress or otherwise make it difficult for your mind to wind down and prepare for sleep.
2. Curate the right environment
The environment in which you rest can have a significant impact on how quickly you fall asleep or how often you wake up. Making sure you sleep in a cool, dark, quiet room can be useful. If you live in a noisy place, using ear plugs or a sound machine could help you avoid being awakened before you’re ready. Having a mattress and pillows that you find comfortable as well as a sleeping position that works for your body may contribute to high-quality rest, too.
3. Exercise during the day in lieu of sleep aids
Charlene Gamaldo, M.D., medical director of Johns Hopkins Center for Sleep, is quoted in an article as saying, “We have solid evidence that exercise does, in fact, help you fall asleep more quickly and improves sleep quality.”
Though the mechanisms aren’t fully understood, getting active during the day—though not too close to bedtime—seems to increase the amount of slow-wave sleep you’re able to experience. In addition to its many other potential health benefits, this is one reason it may be worth incorporating regular cardiovascular exercise into your routine.
4. Avoid caffeine late in the day to help with restless legs syndrome
Caffeine can help you feel more alert and awake, which is precisely why drinking it anywhere near bedtime can prevent your body from relaxing into sleep. For those with restless legs syndrome, caffeine might also exacerbate symptoms, making it harder to settle down. In fact, some experts suggest that you may want to avoid coffee, tea, energy drinks, and other caffeinated beverages as much as eight hours before bed. If you don’t notice a difference, it could be worth cutting out caffeine altogether to see if that’s what may be affecting your sleep quality.
5. Don’t rely on a nightcap for help falling asleep
Those who drink alcohol might find themselves feeling drowsy after a glass of wine or a few beers with friends, which can lead some people to believe that alcohol can actually help improve sleep. While a drink or two may make you fall asleep faster than normal, it’s likely not worth it in the end. That’s because research indicates that alcohol may actually decrease the benefits of the sleep that you do get. As a 2021 study suggests, it’s associated with lower sleep quality, higher odds of snoring, and shorter sleep duration.
7. Eat nutritious foods
The foods you eat can have a significant impact on many different aspects of your health, and that includes sleep. If you’re having trouble getting good rest, adjusting your diet could be one of the most effective, natural remedies—just make sure to talk to your doctor or nutritionist before making significant changes to what you eat. For instance, research suggests that diets that are high in processed foods and sugar are associated with “worse sleep features.” Avoiding these when possible and adding foods to your diet that are rich in certain nutrients—such as melatonin, calcium, potassium, folate, antioxidants, and B vitamins—could contribute to better rest.
How therapy aids in achieving better sleep
Even if you’re practicing good sleep hygiene and taking care of your physical health, you could still experience sleep issues related to your mental health. Conditions like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and even the experience of chronic stress could make it more difficult for you to get quality sleep by setting your mind racing, resulting in nightmares, or causing other challenges.
If you are experiencing trauma, support is available. Please see our Get Help Now page for more resources.
Managing mental and emotional health for better sleep
If you’re looking for support in managing your mental and emotional health in an effort to get better sleep, speaking with a therapist could be useful. They can help you address any symptoms of a mental health condition that you may be experiencing. They can also support you in discovering healthy coping mechanisms for stress and difficult emotions so that you can minimize their impact on your sleep and overall well-being.
Not everyone feels comfortable meeting with a therapist face to face, and some people may also find it difficult to regularly travel to and from in-person appointments. In these situations, online therapy can represent a more convenient alternative. You can use a platform like BetterHelp to get matched with a licensed therapist with whom you can meet via phone, video call, and/or in-app messaging from the comfort of home. One sleep expert describes internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT-i) as “the most effective non-pharmacological treatment for chronic insomnia,” so it may be worth exploring if you believe this format would suit you.
Takeaway
How can I improve my deep sleep for better sleep quality?
Figuring out which strategies might help you fall asleep can take some time and experimentation, but feeling rested and reaping the potential health benefits of quality sleep can be worth it. A few sleep tips and tricks you can try to develop healthy sleep habits include:
- Avoid screens an hour or two before bed.
- Listen to soothing music before bed.
- Keep your room cool, dark, and quiet.
- Exercise during the day.
- Avoid alcohol and caffeine late in the day.
- Avoid frequent daytime naps.
- Maintain the same sleep and wake up time.
What causes lack of deep sleep and difficulty falling asleep?
There are many factors that may make it difficult for a person to get a good night’s rest or experience challenges in falling asleep, such as:
- Stress and/or racing thoughts
- An inconsistent sleep schedule
- Environmental disruptions (bright lights, noise, hot temperatures)
- Hormonal changes
- Large meals too late at night
- Depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions
- Caffeine or alcohol consumption too close to bedtime
- Long daytime naps
- Insomnia, sleep apnea, or other clinical sleep disorders
What can I drink to fall asleep faster?
Though there is little scientific proof that any drink can make you fall asleep faster, certain home remedies may help you relax and enhance the quality of your sleep. You can try drinking warm milk, chamomile tea, or tart cherry juice ahead of going to bed to see if they help you get better nighttime sleep.
What foods increase deep sleep?
The foods you eat can have a significant impact on many different aspects of your health, and that includes sleep. For instance, research suggests that diets that are high in processed foods and sugar are associated with “worse sleep features.”
However, it’s important to remember that diet and sleep are complex. The research around how to get a good night sleep by eating certain foods remains inconclusive, and no specific food is guaranteed to lead to healthy sleep. That said, there are indications that certain foods—such as kiwi, tart cherries, turkey, fatty fish, nuts, and rice—contain nutrients like melatonin, calcium, potassium, folate, antioxidants, and B vitamins that could contribute to better rest.
Why can't I sleep at night even when I'm tired, and could it be due to restless legs syndrome?
Waking up in the middle of the night or struggling to fall asleep can affect your physical and mental wellness. Over time, chronic sleep deprivation can also be detrimental to your health. If you find that you’re having trouble falling asleep even though you feel sleepy, many factors or combination of factors could be the cause.
- Napping for too long at inconsistent times of the day.
- Restless legs syndrome is a condition characterized by an uncontrollable and involuntary urge to move the legs. It can be one such factor, especially at night.
- Living with an anxiety disorder that causes your mind to race.
- Experiencing depression.
- Consuming too much caffeine throughout the day.
- Using smartphones or other blue light devices within two hours of bedtime.
- Living with a sleep disorder such as sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome.
What is the best position in which to sleep?
The best position in which to sleep depends on your unique health needs and restrictions. If you’re a healthy adult, your sleep position matters less than it does for an older person or someone living with a health condition. That said, some positions may be considered healthier than others—sleeping on your back or your side is preferable to sleeping on your stomach, which may not keep your spine naturally aligned. Additionally, certain positions may offer certain benefits.
- Sleeping on your side can promote good spinal alignment, reduce heartburn and snoring, and relieve back pain.
- Sleeping on your back can relieve symptoms of allergies and congestion, prevent wrinkles from forming on your face, and relieve neck pain.
How can I get instant sleep relief?
Many products are advertised as instant or fast-acting sleep aids, but many of those claims are unfounded and lifestyle changes remain the best approach to address sleep issues. If you have tried natural approaches, such as avoiding caffeine and improving your sleep hygiene, and you are still unable to address your sleep debt, it may be beneficial to speak with a doctor about prescription sleep medicine so that you can get the recommended amount of sleep every night (at least seven hours per night for adults).
Tips on how to get a good night sleep when you have insomnia?
Insomnia is typically treated through a combination of self-care, therapy, and medication. Developing a consistent sleep schedule, avoiding screens before bedtime, and having a relaxing bedtime routine can also help improve sleep quality. In some cases, insomnia is a minor inconvenience, but for some people insomnia can do more than just disrupt sleep – negatively impacting many aspects of their lives.
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