Natural Cures for Insomnia

Natural Treatments to Help You Sleep Better

Some time ago, in the article Helpful Approach for Hard Times in Life, I discussed my fight with insomnia and how I was trying to make the most of my sleepless nights.  Well, despite the extra meditation I was getting to practice while lying awake at night, curing my insomnia was important so I could get my life back on a healthy and productive schedule.

I try to approach life simply, and one of the things that helps me keep things simple, is that I have some basic goals I try to achieve everyday.  Currently, I have three things I try to do everyday.  These are meditate, workout and work on this website.  Around those three things, I plan the rest of my day, and insomnia was making it difficult to do this in an orderly way.  

Almost, all of us have at some point suffered from insomnia, or at least know well what it is like to be extra tired and drowsy from a lack of sleep.  It can make doing simple things hard.  So, in order to establish a nice healthy routine and accomplish my daily goals, treating my insomnia became a priority.

Of course, I was not interested in taking any prescription medication and the over the counter meds did not really suit me either.  Furthermore, I knew well enough that I had all the tools needed to cure this condition naturally. 

I am well aware of the research that has been done on natural cures for insomnia, to feel confident that the sciences of meditation, yoga and related holistic disciplines were very effective in relieving this condition and promoting a good night’s sleep.  So I went about tweaking my holistic programs to help get rid of these sleepless nights. 

So here are the five natural therapies I did, which have worked extremely well to help me get my sleep back on track and effectively end the disruption that insomnia was causing me.  Insomnia though comes in many flavors and I want to point out that my biggest issue was not with falling asleep, but more with waking up frequently during the night.  I would say that now this condition is about 90% cured and I am sure that as I keep up with my program, insomnia is soon going to be a thing of the past for me.

So if you are suffering from insomnia, I strongly suggest trying this combination of natural cures.  Each one of these approaches has been scientifically shown to help reduce insomnia, so you can just imagine how effective it is when you combine these treatments together.

5 Natural Treatments to Insomnia:

1. Running Cures Insomnia:

I know everyone expected me to say meditation or yoga first for treating insomnia, but recent research shows that for whatever reason, running is very good for curing this condition.  The researches in this study prescribed running to one group and other equivalent exercises to other groups and found that the runners, did much better in reducing insomnia than the other groups.

If you are going to take up running, start slowly.  Last thing you want is to cure one problem and end up with another.  Do a Run/Walk combo and build up your time to 20 to 30 minutes.  Try to run three to four times a week to experience the positive results.  These days you will often find me pounding the treadmill at the local gym .

2. Yoga Helps Improve Sleep:

Again, recent research done on insomnia and natural cures for it, has found that yoga helps cure insomnia and works better than equivalent exercises.  They surmise it could be because the stretching and extending, help draw out stress from deep within the tissues, ligaments and joints, but they are not sure exactly why yoga helps as much as it does.

If could also be the peace and general stress relief that yoga promotes which helps with sleep, but in any case the evidence is irrefutable that yoga is an excellent natural cure for insomnia.  Try doing it 3 times a week for 1 hour to experience the positive results.  If are not able to get your yoga in specifically, make sure you do a lot of stretching at the gym or at home, I think this will certainly give you some of the sleep benefits that yoga does.

By the way, in addition to curing your insomnia you will also enjoy all the other great benefits of yoga which you can read about in the following article: Top 10 Health Benefits of Yoga .

If you would like to get started with yoga, here is a free class that is an excellent place to begin.  Free Online Beginner’s Yoga Class.

3. Meditation Improves 75% of Insomnia Cases:

That is what the research is showing.  That there is significant improvement in the quality of sleep in 75% of the group which is prescribed meditation.  I have written about this in the past and you will find that information in the following article: Health Benefits of Meditation. 

One of the 2 meditation I would recommend that you do as part of your treatment regiment is So Hum Mantra Meditation or Zen Meditation.  Do meditation for 30 minutes daily, or 20 minutes twice a day.  Both those amounts will be plenty for you to get the benefits of this profound science.  Remember, with meditation, the key is consistency.

4. Relaxation at Bedtime:

In addition to Running, Yoga/Stretching and Meditation, I have changed the routine I do before sleep.  In the past I used to practice, either Silent Mind Meditation or Reflection Meditation, but now, specifically to help me sleep better, faster and longer I do deep relaxation.  After all, sleep researches think that yoga and meditation help primarily because they help reduce stress and promote relaxation, so why not practice deep relaxation directly.

I suspect once my sleep cycle is back in place, I will return to Silent Mind Meditation and Reflection Meditation, but for now I plan to continue with my relaxation method.

To do this, I use Corpse Pose for Stress Relief and Relaxation and in this pose, I practice Simple Yogic Breathing Technique.  I relax completely, shelf any worries and let go completely.  I don’t mull over anything, don’t worry about my to do list and just concentrate on relaxing deeply.  If necessary I consciously relax every part of my body bit by bit.  Finally, I really become like a corpse .

Another breathing technique I would recommend, which is reputed to help cure insomnia, is Ujjayi Pranayama.  You can get details about that technique in the following article:  Can’t Sleep? Ujjayi Pranayama to Cure Insomnia.  You may wish to try this in corpse pose to help you relax deeply.

5. Establish a Consistent Routine:

Finally, I have worked to establish a consistent wake/sleep routine.  When you do this initially, the body will be quite tired from being forced up at a particular time, without sufficient rest, but I have found that establishing a good sleep/wake pattern goes a long way in helping get rid of insomnia.  

You may very well have to fight off the urge to nap during the day and use considerable willpower to ensure that you adhere to the routine, but I assure it is well worth the effort.  So if you decide you are going to sleep at 10 pm and wake up at 5 am, do it.  Turn that TV off, stop playing the video game and go to bed.  The body likes rhythms and a good sleep/wake cycle will give you a great foundation to do more in life.

Natural Cures for Insomnia Summary:

So the above 5 methods now form my cure insomnia mission.  The best part, of course, is that it includes things I love to do anyway and that the benefits of these “cures” reach far beyond just sound sleep. 

If you have battled insomnia yourself and have some sleep tips to offer, please do share them with us in the comments section below.  Here’s to a good night’s sleep .