Natural Sleep Aids: Home Remedies to Help You Snooze

Are you having trouble drifting into a peaceful, nourishing slumber? You are not alone.

More than 60 million Americans suffer from poor sleep quality. Disturbed sleep is more than an inconvenience that leaves you dragging the next day. It can affect your emotional and physical health. It negatively impacts your memory, concentration and mood, and it raises your risk for depression, obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.

Luckily, there are easy, natural ways to improve your sleep, says Charlene Gamaldo, medical director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Sleep at Howard County General Hospital. Read these five tips.

DRINK UP. No, not alcohol, which can interfere with sleep. Gamaldo recommends warm milk, chamomile tea and tart cherry juice for patients with sleep trouble.

“Warm milk has long been believed to be associated with chemicals that simulate the effects of tryptophan on the brain. This is a chemical building block for the substance serotonin, which is involved in the sleep-wake transition,” Gamaldo says.

Chamomile tea can also be helpful. “It’s believed to have flavonoids that may interact with benzodiazepine receptors in the brain that are also involved with the sleep-wake transition,” she says.

EXERCISE. Physical activity can improve sleep, though researchers aren’t completely sure why. It’s known that moderate aerobic exercise boosts the amount of nourishing slow wave (deep) sleep you get.

But you have to time it right. Gamaldo says aerobic exercise releases endorphins—chemicals that keep people awake. (This is why you feel so energized after a run.) If you’re having trouble sleeping, try to avoid working out within two hours of bedtime.

USE MELATONIN SUPPLEMENTS. “Melatonin is a hormone that is naturally released in the brain four hours before we feel a sense of sleepiness,” Gamaldo says. It’s triggered by the body’s response to reduced light exposure, which should naturally happen at night.

These days, though, light abounds after it’s dark outside—from your phone, your laptop, your TV. This exposure to unnatural light prevents melatonin release, which can make it hard to fall asleep. Luckily, melatonin is available in pill form at your local pharmacy as an over-the-counter supplement.

Just make sure you consistently buy the same brand. “Because melatonin supplements are unregulated by the FDA, the per-pill dosages and ingredients may differ from manufacturer to manufacturer. Stick with one brand, and don’t buy it online from an unknown source,” Gamaldo cautions.

KEEP COOL. “The ideal temperature for your thermostat is between 65 and 72 degrees,” Gamaldo says. Women who are going through menopause and experiencing hot flashes should keep the room as cool as possible and wear cotton or breathable fabrics to bed.