What do you do when you can’t sleep? I hope you don’t resort to Tylenol PM or something even stronger. I’ve had to detox clients from those too many times. There are both supplements and strategies that can be helpful. Of course so much is individual, and I can help you more effectively if we have a session, but here are some general principles that many people find helpful.
Here are the suggestions which I’ll elaborate below:
1. Create an optimal sleep environment
2. Natural sleep aids to consider
3. Entrain Your Brain
4. Tweak Your Routine
1. Create an optimal sleep environment. This means:
- Turn it off. Switch off wifi for the night. This is usually quite simple: just pull the plug or push a switch. It will reset quickly in the morning when you turn it back on.
- Tune out! No electronics in the bedroom, including TVs, computers, cellphones, iPods, video games, etc.
- Black Out! Complete darkness cues your pineal gland to produce the hormone melatonin, which cues sleep. Use lined curtains to block ambient light, and remove any night lights, and anything with LEDs you can’t turn off. Use a clock with batteries, that can be completely invisible at night. Staring at the time does not help!
- Cover up! If you can’t make your bedroom completely dark, use a sleep mask.
- Cool it! Research shows that optimal temperature for sleep is between 60 and 68 degrees, and that people who sleep soundly naturally have a lower core temperature at bedtime, while insomniacs have a higher one, which increases restlessness. Drop the thermostat (you’ll sleep better knowing you’re saving money, too) and use a hot water bottle to warm your feet if you need to. Such a simple old fashioned remedy, but so comfy and sleep-inducing. Bonus: Sleeping in a cool bedroom is very supportive of thyroid health, and hormones in general. Our bodies are designed for it!
- Lighten Up! In the morning, consider waking to a sunlight simulator. Many people in the Northern hemisphere suffer from the lack of sunlight during the winter months. You can get a clock that wakes wakes you as the sun would, with gradually increasing light, or use light therapy on its own. Replicating the light of the sun in the morning has been very helpful to many people, particularly in the longer hours of winter darkness but often all year round. It has been shown to be a successful therapy for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), in which people suffer from more depressive feelings during the darker months, but it can help just about anyone.
This is the one I use for travel, when I can’t control my environment:
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2. Natural Sleep Aids
- Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland, in the brain, in response to complete darkness. Melatonin helps control our cycles of sleeping and waking. It is effected by the natural rhythms of day and night, and by your own natural body clock. With age, most people produce less melatonin. If you do not have a deficiency, it is not likely to help you sleep. Most studies have shown that small doses are actually the most effective. I like a sustained release formula.
Melatonin can also be used short-term to help with jet lag, and is sometimes used in higher potencies as part of a cancer protocol.
- Tryptophan has become my first go-to sleep supplement. It is safe and usually quite effective. I generally have clients start with 1000 mg and increase by 1000mg a night, up to 6000mg, until they are sleeping soundly through the night. Tryptophan is particularly effective for people who tend to feel blue or depressed at times during the day, and will help raise serotonin levels when used regularly. GABA is better for people who tend to anxiety, and struggle to turn off the chatter in their brain, or the “monkey mind”, as we say in yoga. I have a wonderful form of GABA that can help with this both during the day, and at night.
- I have several other formulas that combine herbs and other nutraceuticals in various ways that are helpful for many people. Please let me know if you need more help.
3. Entrain Your Brain
- Music that is rich in harmonics and spatial detail has been shown to help attain better quality and more consistent sleep. You can escape to a musical sanctuary where calm, consistent rhythms restore harmony to mind, body and spirit. How? Try the app Sleep Genius for your smartphone (turn off everything else, please!). A delicate blend of expertly orchestrated arrangements, combined with soothing ocean sounds, melt away stress and anxiety achieving serenity and balance.
I also have CDs that can be used this way, including Music to De-Stress, and Music for Relaxation. In the same series, there are CDs for Maximum Focus; Music for Thinking; Music to Relax; Music for Inspiration, and more. Each is intended to complement specific activities, employing extensive scientific research and clinical study to achieve its intended effect. CDs are available in my office for $15. I am also happy to mail them to you.
- Meditate: Like music, meditation entrains your brain, respiratory system and heart rate to a slower rhythm. My personal practice is Lovingkindness meditation, but it’s essential to find what works for you. As thoughts intrude, don’t fight them, simply acknowledge them and go back to your meditation practice. If there is nothing you are going to do about it lying in bed at night, then don’t let yourself go into the anxiety trance. Focus on your breath, on prayer, or on your meditation.
The Lovingkindness Meditation
Say each phrase on an exhale. Traditionally there are four verses: repeat it several times for yourself, then for someone you love, then for someone about whom you are neutral, then for someone who is difficult for you.
May I be filled with lovingkindness
May I be well
May I be peaceful and at ease
May I be happy.
More on Meditation
4. Tweak Your Routine
- Caffeine If you are having trouble consistently getting a great night’s sleep, the first thing to do is to look at your caffeine intake. Are you one of those people who boast that they can drink coffee at 11PM and it has no effect? Uh oh: your adrenals are in trouble. In fact they’re probably completely shot and are no longer responsive to stimulation. That’s not a good thing.
I advise clients to limit coffee to one reasonably sized cup in the morning. Remember that coffee has a half life in your body of 8 to 12 hours, so that afternoon cup is streaming through your system long after you want to be asleep. Making it Bulletproof will help a lot, but even Bulletproof coffee should be limited to the morning. Tea in the afternoon is fine if you are sleeping well; if you are not, try to eliminate caffeine altogether for a while. Avoid caffeine after 2PM.
Yes, you will feel more tired. That is the truth that the caffeine is masking, and it is essential to rest and recover. If you get good quality and adequate quantity sleep, you will!
I am a big fan of DandyBlend, and many clients find it is a great coffee substitute. Ask me for a sample, or buy a bag that makes 200 cups, or a box of individual serving packets, in my office.
- Don’t eat 3 hours before bedtime. You want your system to focus on rest and repair, not digestion, at night. Try a cup of herbal tea, or some warm coconut milk with xylitol or stevia, or 1/2 teaspoon of raw local honey. (Stevia and xylitol are available in my office.) Most people find that this calms their system and their cravings. If you must have a snack, or are eating late, keep it light, and keep the carb load low.
- Develop a bedtime routine. Try to get away from electronics at least 45 minutes before going to bed. Falling asleep in front of the TV is not restful for your brain! Instead, take a hot bath (try adding epsom salts, baking soda and white vinegar for a mild detox), read, listen to calming music (see above), pray or meditate. Try to go to bed at approximately the same time every night.
Nighty night, and sleep sweet!
Fran Sussman Holistic Services 
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