9 Natural Sleep Remedies That Really Work

If you’re lying awake at night—unable to fall asleep or waking up and are unable to get back to sleep, you’re not alone. Sleep issues are incredibly common, but that doesn’t mean you have to rely on medications to fix them.

Over the years, we’ve tried a wide range of natural sleep remedies—some worked, some didn’t. In this post, I’m sharing the ones that have actually made a difference, along with simple changes that can help you (or your child) sleep better naturally.

And while it's hard for adults who can't sleep, it's really hard when your child is suffering.

Any child can have a hard time getting to sleep, but for parents of children with special needs, bedtime can be particularly difficult.

What should be a pretty simple concept of putting a child to bed can become an ongoing series of night upon night of stress and anxiety that makes bedtime a source of nothing that resembles rest at all.

Possible Causes for Sleep Problems

Physical Disturbances

Special needs children often have heightened sensitivities.  What might be a non-issue to a typical child might be a “big deal” to a special needs child.  As such, you may need to pay special attention to the physical aspects of your child's bedroom.

Allergies

It turned out that our son's frequent wakings were due to food allergies.  When he was nursing, I was eating foods that he was allergic to as a result he had horrible eczema.  Once we had testing done and the foods were eliminated (completely!!), the itching stopped and he slept.

Temperature

Sleeping in a room that is too cold or too hot can cause anyone's sleep to be disturbed.  Maintaining a comfortable sleeping temperature can be a big help.  Also, cold feet can be a big problem, so if your child's bedroom is a bit cold, make sure that you try having your child wear socks, in particular, to insure a good night's sleep.

Noise

Due to kids' sensitivity, any noises may make it hard for your child to sleep. 

Toxins

Typically we think about air pollution as being from cars, factories, and the like. However, indoor air quality is getting more and more attention as it should. Modern houses are more tight and modern products typically have more VOCs and synthetics than in previous generations.

You could consider improving the air quality of your home and bedrooms by purchasing a quality air filter or simply bringing some air purifying plants into your home.

Emotional Disturbances

We all know that stress disturbs sleep.  Here are some possible causes and remedies.

Anxiety

Anxiety from all sources can cause problems in slumber-land.  Our son has gotten worked up from many things, but mainly from family stress and frightening reading material.  Reducing how much stress your child is exposed to and limiting exposure to material that may be frightening is a big help.  Even material that may not be ostensibly frightening but can cause mental confusion (like fantasy stories) can be too much for some children to handle.  For obvious reasons, violent and occult media content should be completely avoided.

Stimulation

This is one area that, together with anxiety, has been hard for us to curb.  Listening to the stimulating radio music or broadcasts (that means sports for our son), or being on the internet too late at night can cause sleep disruption, including waking too early.

Natural Sleep Remedies

We've worked with a number of practitioners and have done a lot of research over the years,  and we have found the following natural sleep remedies to be helpful.

Melatonin

We've found melatonin to be a real help in our household on and off.  We don't use a whole capsule; we just open the capsule up, pour it in a container, and give him about 1/10 of the capsule before bed.  (We use Now brand 3 mg capsules.) You can also buy tablets and break them as needed.

Some practitioners think that a small amount is best. Personally I've found that to work best for me. I take about .25 – .50 mg per day.

Magnesium

Magnesium can be taken orally or can be used as a foot or bath soak (in the form of magnesium crystals or epsom salts) or in a magnesium oil or lotion.

Some people say that skin absorption is best, but that's hard to know. Either way, magnesium is a big deal for relaxing your body.

GABA

Promotes a relaxed state of mind. GABA works in a pinch, but some practitioners say that taking it ongoing causes your body not to produce enough of it.

In that case, it would be better to eat foods that promote your body to make it like brown rice, soy beans, adzuki beans, tomatoes, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, sprouted grains, chestnuts,mushrooms, and sweet potatoes.

Valerian

Valerian herb is known for sleep-inducing qualities, but it's also known for being really stinky…seriously.  Buying a standardized version is often recommended but we make our own tincture sometimes.

Essential Oils

Essential oils have helped me on and off throughout the years.

I have had these essential oils for adrenal support help me over and over when I couldn't sleep.

Herbal Blend

This Relaxing Sleep herb blend is a nice combination of herbs that support sleep (including valerian that I mentioned above). I have found it work well.

Kava

Kava is a great herb that can really help with stubborn sleep problems. Like most herbs you can get it in either capsule or tincture form.

White Noise

Having some kind of white noise can help your child sleep. A simple fan or air filter can work.

We've tried several white noice machines, but this sound machine is the best one that we've found.

Phototherapy Patches

One new thing that's helped me us a lot is these phototherapy patches. They interact with your body to create changes that result in homeostasis.

There are a number of patches to choose from, but the Silent Night Patches enhance your quality of sleep. For some, they make a huge difference.

The Silent Nights Patches combined with SP6 and Aeon really help me. Reach out in the comments or at adrienne {at} wholenewmom {dot} com for information about how to use these and if you'd like, you can join a Facebook group that includes practitioner support plus 70 protocols for all kinds of issues.

Of course, for any of the above suggestions, you should consult with a professional health care provider regarding your individual situation.

How about you?
What natural sleep remedies or techniques have helped you?