Home remedy sleep aids?

The Ender

I've been using no-name brand sleep aid pills to force myself to sleep at night because often I otherwise just can't sleep when it's most appropriate to do so (the medical professionals I've talked to about this have told me that, from what I've described, my sleeping habits don't appear to be a medical issue - it's just the way my body wants to sleep - and advised me to go ahead and just keep using sleep aids if they help). This has been fine for a while.

I can no longer really budget for even the inexpensive sleep aids, but I really need to be able to have a sleep vs awake time schedule that is compatible with a 1:00 - 5:00~ schedule at a bare minimum right now, and my body is not being cooperative on it's own no matter what I try to do, including literally lying on the bed for 8~ hours looking up at the ceiling until the sun comes up.


I'm not looking for a nonsense homeopathic remedy or whatever; I just want to know if there are certain foods or something you can eat at night that can act as a sort-of sleep aid.

Enc

Chamomile (Usually in tea form) is proven to aid in treating insomnia, though realistically speaking you will pay ~$3 for a box of 20 tea bags and ~$6 for a bottle of over the counter sleep aids so cost wise im not sure you will see much improvement if you are that cash strapped.

When I worked bakery hours (some days some nights in the same week) I usually just made a cup of tea about 30 minutes before bed to help get to sleep. All sleep aids do create dependence so it's probably a better way to deal with it.

Wassermelone

Melatonin

Just go read the wiki article on it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melatonin

Its literally what your body produces as basically a 'sleepy time alarm'. It doesn't necessarily help you sleep more soundly or deeper or keep you asleep, but it does tell your body that it is time to sleep.

Other things I would suggest that you may have heard already -
- Only ever sleep in bed. Don't read or watch tv in bed
- Try to limit artificial light sources before bed. This is particularly hard because woo glowing screens, but it actually impedes your body's natural inclination to produce melatonin itself and therefore signal sleepy time.

Oh one other thing is that melatonin itself is sold in 3-5 mg pills where the effective dose is something like .5 mg

spool32

second for taking a melatonin supplement.

Liiya

Have you tried meditation ?

DisruptedCapitalist

ASMR videos sometimes help, but I have heard experts say that over-reliance on them could create problems when they're not available.

Ephemeral Rift and Heather Feather are my two favorites but there are others. Sadly the whole field has been filled with phony ASMR videos that are basically sex sounds and not much fun to listen to, so beware.

Of course, not everyone experiences ASMR either, so it may not work if you're not able to experience ASMR.

Justice

Whiskey.

Iruka

If you dont have F.lux on your computer, it does help me wind down a little more naturally, though I don't use it on my main rig since it messes with painting.

Doing the same routine helps, If you have any conditions that help you sleep that you know of, I would work to make them possible. I sleep super shittily in the summer because as it turns out sub 60 degrees in the bedroom is ideal for me. I have a box fan running for white noise and airflow, I think the white noise helps my mind know its in a space for sleeping.

I've tried epsom salt baths, which work in a sorta superficial way, but its pretty hit or miss and there's no hard science on it working. A hot bath or showere doesn't usually hurt though.

I haven't tried melatonin, I'm considering it though.

ceres

Any kind of non-caffeinated low- or no-sugar beverage should help.. a nice rooibos or herbal tea, sort of thing. Lavender can be nice for that.

Enc

The issue with melatonin is that it can cause a whole lot of side effects (from near-permanent drowsiness to depression to killer headaches that persist for days), is expensive, and generally speaking should only be used in short term doses and not as an on-demand sleep aid (and only then with doctor's approval). It also has some pretty nasty drug interactions with NSAID pain relievers and pill based birth control. It's not really a good solution unless your doctor has reviewed your charts and confirmed it will be ok for you.

bowen

It's more correct to say "Other medications interact with melatonin" because they influence how your body interacts with it. Your body makes this stuff naturally, so it's not going to cause really a 'reaction' with them. What is happening is stuff like BCP and Tylenol change the absorption of melatonin in your body. BCP already increases the melatonin levels, so you should probably avoid it while on BCP since this will cause side effects like headaches.

Melatonin is also a signaling hormone. So if you're diabetic, it can change your the way your body handles blood sugar.

The reactions aren't really nasty per se, they just have to be accommodated for. The worst interaction is with depression medications, because it's a sedative, and it'll amplify it.

Obviously ask your doctor if you're concerned or if you're at risk for other diseases.

Benadryl and Melatonin are both pretty good sleep aids in general, with low risk of complications and interactions in general. That's not no risk, but very few risks. You are more likely to have issues when taking an ibuprofen or aspirin for your headache.

FANTOMAS

Big mug of hot milk, and not sleeping outside of schedule, not even a tiny shuteye.

Enc

bowen wrote: »

It's more correct to say "Other medications interact with melatonin" because they influence how your body interacts with it. Your body makes this stuff naturally, so it's not going to cause really a 'reaction' with them. What is happening is stuff like BCP and Tylenol change the absorption of melatonin in your body. BCP already increases the melatonin levels, so you should probably avoid it while on BCP since this will cause side effects like headaches.

True, but when you take melatonin the possible interactions and complications increase considerably beyond what your normal levels are which can cause significantly greater impacts upon you. There are some very nasty side effects you can get (my sister was on melatonin for a while and it caused pretty much permanent headaches and drowsiness while she was on it). It can also become habit forming.

Given that there are foods, teas, and other forms of sleep induction that aren't habit forming but do have medical backing, I'd say stick with those before jumping to something in this level of magnitude. If nothing else works, make you way up the roster of severity until this becomes an option.

bowen

Enc wrote: »

bowen wrote: »

It's more correct to say "Other medications interact with melatonin" because they influence how your body interacts with it. Your body makes this stuff naturally, so it's not going to cause really a 'reaction' with them. What is happening is stuff like BCP and Tylenol change the absorption of melatonin in your body. BCP already increases the melatonin levels, so you should probably avoid it while on BCP since this will cause side effects like headaches.

True, but when you take melatonin the possible interactions and complications increase considerably beyond what your normal levels are which can cause significantly greater impacts upon you. There are some very nasty side effects you can get (my sister was on melatonin for a while and it caused pretty much permanent headaches and drowsiness while she was on it). It can also become habit forming.

Given that there are foods, teas, and other forms of sleep induction that aren't habit forming but do have medical backing, I'd say stick with those before jumping to something in this level of magnitude. If nothing else works, make you way up the roster of severity until this becomes an option.

Yeah a lot of the time the following would work:

Go to bed earlier, don't eat right before bed, stop drinking caffeine, eat healthier in general, and exercise at least 5 times a week (30 minute walk counts).

The first few weeks of a schedule change downright suck.