Question

Natural Sleep Aids

Dr.Prasad Bapat · Accepted Answer

If a person wants to have a healthy life he should eat healthy, work out daily and the most important factor to this is to take adequate and proper amounts of sleep regularly. Sleep helps in the proper regulation and functioning of the brain and the body and having a great and adequate sleep at the time of night you will feel that your memory, learning, creativity and your decision making has improved a lot. If you are unable to rest or sleep properly you will become prone to various health conditions and problems like obesity, diabetes, heart disease, etc which can sometimes turn very fatal into a life threatening situation.

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Even though there are a lot of benefits for a person who practices healthy sleeping habits, none tries to maintain the quality and quantity of sleeping and this factor of living and having a healthy life is ignored by most of the people. Before you start having a good quality sleep you should start practicing certain good sleeping habits but in some cases this is not sufficient for some people.

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If you are having trouble in sleeping you can opt for various methods to sleep properly such as there are various medications available in the market which can help you to get a proper sleep but they have a lot of side effects which will affect your health adversely, so to stay away from health issues and have a quality sleep for adequate time you can take certain natural supplements which are known for promoting sleep and some of the supplements are mentioned below:

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Melatonin: this is a hormone which is present in our body and is produced naturally. This hormone acts as a sleep alarm for a person which means that this will signal your brain through neural transmissions that this is the time for you to sleep or take rest and this hormone plays a huge role in a person's sleeping routine. The production of this hormone is greatly affected by a factor which is said to be the time of the day which is responsible for altering or maintaining the production of this hormone and the secretion of hormone and the best time for the time of melatonin formation (there is seen a rise in the level of melatonin) is in the night or at the fall in the morning.

The consumption of melatonin supplements have increased over the course of time because of these reasons and how it helps a person to sleep properly especially in those cases where a person has a very irregular sleep cycle or disturbed melatonin cycle like in case of jet lag. Melatonin supplements have been very beneficial for the shift workers who can easily sleep during the daytime as these supplements are found to have improved the quality and time period of sleeping in the daytime significantly. It also improves the person's sleep even though he is suffering from sleeping disorders and improves time latency (the time a person takes to fall asleep) as well and increases the duration of the sleep significantly as well. The amount of melatonin for an adult person is between 3 to 10 mg before going to sleep and that too for a short period of time and it should not be consumed by women who are nursing or pregnant as there can arise certain medical issues.

Tryptophan: this is another sleep supplement which is easily found in the market and it has very positive effect on the quality of the sleep which means after the consumption of this supplement the quality of sleep of a person improves but there is a downside too for this supplement that it lowers down the duration of sleep significantly at night and the person consuming this may have to remain awake for the rest of the night. The dosage of this medical supplement should be 1 gram at least.

L-theanine: this is an amino acid which is responsible and helpful for providing and improving relaxation and sleep to a person. This amino acid is to be taken through supplements and the amount of its intake should be around 200 mg and if it is possible take this amino acid with gaba (gamma aminobutyric acid) and magnesium which will be more effective.

Ginkgo biloba: this is a natural herb which helps the person to get increased relaxation, reduced stress and it also promotes sleep. This natural herb is to be taken 30 to 60 minutes before going to bed and the amount should be 240 mg.

Lavender: this plant is found in almost all the continents on the globe and this plant produces purple flowers and they can be brought under use for so many reasons when they have been dried. The fragrance of this plant is very soothing and helps in increasing the sleep of a person, smelling lavender oil before going to bed is also very helpful for those people who suffer from mild insomnia and people who have dementia could get relieved from some of its symptoms and improved their sleeping disturbance through the application of lavender aromatherapy. Due to the lavender aromatherapy, the sleep time of the person increases and there are only few people who wake up early and could not complete their sleep properly and find it really difficult for themselves to go back to sleep.

The aromatherapy of lavender also helps a person who is suffering from coronary artery disease to get relieved from anxiety (decrease in anxiety) and improves the quality of sleep in 15 days of time period. The aromatherapy of lavender is very beneficial but the direct oral intake of lavender has various side effects linked to itself like the person may have problems of nausea, diarrhea and belching in some cases. Oils from this plant are recommended for the aromatherapy not for the direct oral intake. ;

Conclusion: ;

Sleep is a very integral part of a person's healthy lifestyle and the quality and quantity of it should be maintained throughout the lifetime as disturbance in the sleep could result in the rise of certain medical conditions.

These supplements and therapies mentioned above could help you get a proper sleep but you should try to keep them temporary and do not make them a permanent solution for your sleeping problem and apart from these supplements and medications you yourself should practice some healthy sleeping habits which can help you get relaxed very easily. Before you start to consume anything it is very important for you to know about the problems that you already have and whether the supplement would have any adverse effect on that condition or on your body or not.

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