Natural remedies for insomnia

Exhausted all day at work but just can’t drop off at night? Insomnia is both a debilitating and frustrating condition that affects thousands of individuals in the UK.

In a desperate bid to cope with our sleeping problem, we have become a nation of pill poppers – abandoning counting sheep in favour of much stronger medication to help us drop off.

Whilst medication is entirely necessary for some individuals, there can be potentially harmful side effects with continued use. If you are experiencing disrupted sleep patterns but are wary of beginning a course of sleep medication, it may be worth trying one of the following natural remedies first to see how they work for you:

Cherry juice

Research has shown that drinking a glass of unsweetened cherry juice in the morning and then again at night can help to improve sleeping patterns.

Participants were spilt into two groups, one of which drank Montmorency cherry juice concentrate twice each day, whilst the other drank a placebo juice. Individuals who drank the cherry juice experienced an increase of 25 minutes in their total sleep time and a six per cent increase in the quality of their sleep.

You could try: CherryActive Concentrate – £15.95 473ml

5-Hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP)

It may sound hi-tech, but 5-HTP is actually made from the seeds of an African bean known as the Griffonia simplicifolia. This seed complex naturally converts into serotonin in the body – a brain chemical responsible for regulating our sleep cycle.

Taking 5-HTP will trigger an increased production of serotonin that will aid natural sleep, and so far it has proven to be extremely beneficial for insomnia in medical trials.

You could try: BioCare 5-HTP – £17.50 for 60 capsules.

Passion flower

Passion flower has been championed as a calming natural remedy since ancient times and is said to both ease anxiety and improve sleep.

For many insomniacs, anxiety and stress can actually be contributing factors, so taking something to combat these effects could prove to be beneficial.

You could try: RelaxHerb – £9.18 for 30 tablets. 

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