Has the past year caused you to experience insomnia due to anxiety? Are you reading this blog post in the middle of the night looking for a natural sleep aid solution? Keep reading for 5 insomnia tips to help you sleep through the night.
While oftentimes there’s no “quick fix” for insomnia, there are so many natural tools you can use to lower your stress levels and support your rest. Whenever there’s a natural tool you can use before resorting to medication with side effects, it’s worth a try, right?
You should also know that if the COVID-19 pandemic or stress from 2020 impacted your sleep, you’re not alone. The American Psychological Association reports that 2 in 3 adults (67%) have experienced increased stress over the course of the pandemic. We’ve rounded up the best natural remedies and insomnia support for adults. Read on for solutions that best support your immune system and regulate your sleep.
Insomnia Tip #1: Create a routine or structure around bedtime.
Just like kids feel safe when they have routine, creating a structure for your nighttime rituals can reinforce a sense of safety before drifting off to sleep. And if you have insomnia, this same structure can help you sleep through the night.
So many insomnia articles will have you believing in the 10pm bedtime. However, that doesn’t work for everyone. If you have flexibility in your daytime schedule, find a bedtime that feels natural to you and stick with it – aiming for 7-9 hours of sleep per night.
How do you know if you’ve found the right bedtime? When you wake up naturally (no alarm!) and go to sleep around the same times of day and night. This includes on the weekends.
Before you think “ugh, but routine is boring,” give it a try for two weeks. If you’re not sleeping better, test out some of the other recommendations below, separately or in combination with a bedtime routine.
Get started by changing one small thing before you climb in bed. Try one new thing at a time so that changes don’t feel overwhelming. The one-at-a-time rule will keep you committed to habit change, longer! Here are some ideas to choose from:
- Wash your face and apply your favorite lotion or serums
- Stretch or foam roll
- Journal about your day
- Read a book in dim lighting
- Drink a cup of chamomile tea or herbal infusion
Insomnia Tip #2: Try Incorporating CBD
When it comes to insomnia, sometimes you need to try a combination of tools in order to find what helps you get to sleep, and sleep through the night. CBD is a natural anti-inflammatory that comes in different forms like tinctures and creams. CBD can help calm your mind before bed and support more restful sleep when used on a consistent basis.
With so many different kinds of CBD out there, it can be hard to know what you’re buying. That’s why we do third party lab testing on all of our products. You can view lab test results at any time on our website.
At Vital Blends, we combine full-spectrum hemp-derived CBD with Ayurvedic herbs, which have been used in traditional eastern medicine for thousands of years. When you add CBD into your daily bedtime routine, its anti-inflammatory properties can help you drift off to sleep. We’ve included our favorites for insomnia below:
- Relax tincture (500mg) – CBD with Peppermint and Lavender for restful sleep
- Stress tincture (500mg) – CBD with Holy Basil, Black Maca, Mucuna, and Ashwagandha for daily stress reduction
Insomnia Tip #3: Meditation
In all of the insomnia research you’ve done, you’ve likely run across meditation a few times. And for good reason! Meditation has been scientifically proven to reduce anxiety, depression, and improve sleep quality (via National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health).
What you may or may not know is that there are so many different kinds of meditation to try, and you may have to test out a few types to figure out what works best for you. Here are a few options or ideas to get you started (for free!).
- The Box Breath: https://youtu.be/tEmt1Znux58
- Insight Timer Guided Meditations (App) – If you struggle with insomnia because anxious thoughts wake you up in the middle of the night, it can be nice to have another voice in your head besides your own. Insight Timer is a free app that houses thousands of meditations of various lengths (from 1 minute to 30+ minutes) and categories (sleep, anxiety, etc).
Insomnia Tip #4: Cut Down on Alcohol
Even though a glass of wine with dinner can help reduce stress levels from the day, it may be negatively impacting your sleep! If you’re already struggling with insomnia, it could be worth cutting back on alcohol to get quality rest.
Data on alcohol and its effects on sleep (via National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) suggests that alcohol tolerance develops rapidly, and this may lead to excessive use both at night and throughout the day. Sleep quality and daytime sleepiness may also relate to rates of alcohol drinking and become a gateway to excessive drinking.
Including info on cutting back your alcohol consumption isn’t supposed to scare you, but instead make you aware of what could be impacting your insomnia and give you tangible recommendations to research and try for yourself.
Insomnia Tip #5: Reduce your exposure to blue light
Blue light is the output of the typical lighting from your favorite devices (think: phone, computer, TV). In the modern world, it’s not always possible to avoid blue light entirely, but again, it’s important to be aware of how using these devices make you feel before you go to bed. Here are a few ideas to get started:
- Change the settings on your phone to reduce blue light (free!)
- Buy a pair of blue light glasses (available on Amazon or BluBlox)
- Put your devices down an hour before bedtime
We hope that these insomnia and anti-anxiety tips help you get to sleep and sleep through the night! If you’d like to try Vital Blends CBD as part of your daily and/or nighttime routine, you can shop on our website here and perhaps create the balance you’re looking for!