Giving Natural Sleep Remedies a Try for the First Time
It’s time to try some natural sleep remedies. I was planning to write a different post today, but I’m just too tired. I can’t sleep, and I’ve been struggling for a while. According to my Fitbit, the best sleep I had in all of February was a broken 7 hours.
How Many Hours of Sleep Do I Need?
I used to need a ton of hours just to feel rested. Now, if I can get a solid 7, I can get by comfortably. I’m really at my best when I’m closer to 8. The more broken it is, the more hours I seem to need.
I know we all have bouts of insomnia from time to time, but mine has been such a struggle that I am making sleep my number one WellBeing Clare priority right now. Yes, I’m trying to focus on my wellness as a whole, but this requires some emergency intervention. Just like I would eat anything if I was genuinely starving, despite my focus on nutrition, I need to do something now to get some sleep, because I’m just not getting the rest I need.
Why I’m Trying Natural Sleep Remedies
Honestly, all I wanted to do is go to my doctor’s and get a prescription for some kind of powerful prescription that will knock me out for the next three days! Realistically, I know that’s not the right thing to do for me. I’m not judging anyone who needs that kind of medication, but I’ve got other steps to take before I would head in that direction.
For one thing, I know that it’s stress and anxiety causing me to stay awake. My brain just will not shut down at night. I’m worried about everything and anything. Even if there’s nothing specific to worry about, my mind will make something up. I’ve kept myself awake worrying that it will be hard for me to get potting soil if I decide I want to put plants on my balcony this year. That’s right, I haven’t even decided for certain that I want the plants, but my brain wants to worry about finding potting soil. It’s a really determined brain!
What Did I Try?
So, here’s what I tried in order of trying them:
- Warm
milk with cinnamon
- Chamomile
tea blend
- Natural Calm Sleep powder
- Pascoe
Pascoflair tablets
- Ziesta capsules
Which Natural Sleep Remedies Were the Winners?
Of the natural sleep remedies I tried, three were good and two were serious winners, and two I will gladly never try again. Here’s how it went for me.
Warm Milk with Cinnamon
In the “like grandma used to make” spirit of my WellBeing Clare journey, I decided to start with the classic warm milk. To start, my intention was to have it plain. I tried warming it on the stove and gave it a try. The smell already made my stomach flip but drinking it was even worse. Warming milk really brings out the…milk. So, I added cinnamon. I read online that people like cinnamon or nutmeg or both in their warm milk. I’ve got a love/hate relationship with nutmeg, so I just went for the cinnamon alone. Nope. Not for me. Doesn’t taste good. Doesn’t make me calm. Doesn’t make me sleepy. Does make me nauseated, but that wasn’t the goal.
A Chamomile Tea Blend
The chamomile tea I tried for my natural sleep remedy was part of a Christmas present. I hadn’t tried it yet, so this was the perfect chance. It’s from a brand called Camellia Sinensis and the specific blend was called “La Sublime”, which sounded good to me!
The taste, on the other hand, just wasn’t for me. I’m just not a chamomile tea person. I’ve always wanted to be. But I don’t like it. To be fair to this was the best one I’ve ever tried. I’ve tried other ones that I couldn’t even swallow. This just wasn’t to my taste. Because of this, I couldn’t get on board with using it to wind down. It wasn’t the soothing experience that my mother, grandmother, and pretty much everyone else I know loves.
Natural Calm Sleep Powder
Among all these options, Natural Calm Sleep powder was my runner up for the sleep I got. It has magnesium citrate, GABA, L-theanine (in Suntheanine form), magnesium glycinate, and melatonin.
I found this powder, which you mix into warm water, worked well at making me feel calm. The stress and tension seemed to ease, and I did become more restful. I even felt like the muscles in my shoulders and back released a bit. I got a better sleep using this than I had in a long time. I fell asleep around 11pm, woke up at around 4:30am, then slept off and on until I woke up at 7am and couldn’t get back to sleep again. That doesn’t sound like much, but it’s better than what I’ve been getting by quite a lot.
I didn’t like how I still woke up very early, and I really didn’t like the wildberry flavor, which I found too sweet and somewhat metallic. The next evening, I liked it a lot better when I drank it more watered down, but then I had to get up a couple of times during the night to go to the bathroom.
Pascoe Pascoflair Tablets
I liked these tablets a lot. Pascoflair contained only passionflower extract as an active ingredient but were big and so were a bit tough to swallow, but they had a slightly sweet taste on the coating so even though it took me a couple of tries, it didn’t taste gross to have it in my mouth. I found that about 30-45 minutes after taking these, I felt more at ease. I could relax better. It didn’t make me tired, but at least I wasn’t worrying as intensely.
I took these for three nights. The first night I slept like a baby. The second and third night, I didn’t really sleep well, but at least I was calm about it while I lay awake. I gave these another try during the daytime and found that they helped me not to get as stressed, so that was a nice effect. I think these are more effective for dealing with stress than actually knocking me out. So, if stress is the only think keeping me awake, these would help, but otherwise, I think I’d like these more during the day to stay calm – which is especially good because they cost a fortune!
Ziesta Capsules
Ziesta capsules were the natural sleep remedy that calmed my mind, eased my body and got me 6 and a half uninterrupted hours of sleep, and then another hour after a trip to the bathroom. It also got me the highest sleep score on my Fitbit app (82). The two nights that followed were almost identical. I wasn’t groggy at all in the mornings, which I’d thought I would be since it did make me feel a bit sleepy around a half hour or so after taking them. It was a nice surprise to wake up feeling awake. It’s the most rested I’ve felt this year!
Final Thoughts on the Natural Sleep Remedies I tried
I don’t think natural sleep remedies are the solution to all my sleeplessness problems, but when I haven’t been sleeping well for a few days, and I have the chance to calm down and get some rest, I’m definitely going to do what I can to zonk out.
My intention is to keep Pascoflair on hand for days when I need to control over-stressed symptoms. That way, the hope is that I will be able to be relaxed enough by the evening not to let my mind be too noisy for me to sleep.
At times when I haven’t had sleep in a night or two, and I know my batteries need recharging, I’ll keep Ziesta on hand for that job. It really was the clear winner for me. Now that I’m getting better rested, I can go back to focusing on being WellBeing Clare again!
