Everyone knows sleeping pills can help you sleep, and most people know about the herbs that have the same affect, but few people know about the other alternatives that involve no supplements at all.
Simple lifestyle changes can help a lot of people sleep without taking any sort of drastic measure such as risking becoming dependent on sleeping pills.
Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is something you can do on your own to help yourself be able to relax and go to sleep at night.
The first step of CBT is using your bedroom only for sleeping.
When this is done, it trains your brain to recognize that when you are in that room it is time to relax.
Another part of this is helping out your biological clock.
This involves trying to go to sleep and wake up around the same times each day.
If your body is used to going to sleep at midnight and waking up at eight, you should not suddenly expect it to be able to go to sleep at eight and wake up at six.
A healthy person can only adjust their sleep schedule by one hour each night.
Although power naps can be useful, avoid excessive napping during the day.
This will also throw off your body's rhythm and you won't be able to fall asleep when you want to at night.
Making your bedroom dark and quiet is another important factor in CBT.
If there is still a lot going on around you, it will be harder for your body to relax and slip into slumber.
Visualization is also thought to be an affective sleep aid.
This should be done about twenty minutes before bedtime, and should involve as many of your senses as possible.
One example is to visualize yourself on a tropical island, imagining the breezes lightly brushing your skin.
You can faintly smell the pineapple, and hear the ocean waves swelling and crashing.
The point is anything pleasant and relaxing you can think of to visualize that will utilize all your senses will help relax you into sleep.
Melatonin, a hormone naturally produced by the body, can be a useful alternative to drugs and herbs also.
Following the circadian rhythm, the body naturally increases production of melatonin in the body when it gets dark, leading us to feel relaxed and sleepy.
For this reason, it seems very natural to use melatonin supplements to help induce sleep.
While a number of studies have found this to be affective, none of them has been monitored over a long period of time.
This is important to consider as some doctors fear this could lead to a buildup of melatonin in the body which could lead to other problems.
CBT, visualization and melatonin supplements are just a few of the many natural ways to induce a good night's sleep.
Sweet dreams.