Natural sleep remedies. I could give you a list of things to try as long as your arm. Probably longer.

Examples: Guided sleep meditations, lavender, l-theanine, melatonin, valerian, magnesium, a warm bath in lavender salts before bed, making sure your room is cool and dark (get rid of those glowing gadgets), getting your face out of those glowing gadgets a reasonable time before trying to sleep (the light actually interrupts your ability to sleep well), skipping caffeine and alcohol in the evening, exercise (every hour you remain sedentary results in an extra 3 minutes it takes you to fall asleep) and so on.

And they work. Really, they do. Most of the time. Until I met the sleep resistance from hell years ago. Nothing I tried helped me get to sleep or stay asleep. I’d be wired and awake until 4 a.m. some nights.

One of my problems is my brain. It’s like a monkey on speed at times. It runs through ideas and thoughts faster than I can keep track of them and particularly as I’m trying to make it be quiet. I’ve even tried talking to it like a separate entity: “Thank you, Brain, for sharing. I can use you tomorrow, but, right now, I need you to … SHUT UP!” Weirdly enough, that worked some of the time. Either because it just did or because it made me more aware to not think or because it made me laugh and relax or because it made me realize I’m crazy and if I didn’t shut up my brain and get some sleep, I would appear to be a mad scientist in another couple days. Your choice; they all probably have an element of truth.

What to do when none of my natural remedies were helping me sleep? I researched more. Perhaps I am a (semi) mad scientist (and very, very semi scientist). Curiosity and my endless asking of “Why?” leads me to read and read.

Here are some additional tips I came up with that helped me sleep again:

Minty fresh AWAKENS your spirit!

Skip the mint toothpaste. I had been using a regular toothpaste during the day (I admit – I’m having a hard time losing my minty fresh addiction.) and a natural one at bedtime. I ran out; I didn’t replace it; I was using the other. Skip it, and that helps. Peppermint gives you energy — not a great idea for bedtime.

Boring is sometimes a good thing

Read boring stuff at night. I always read at bedtime. I love to read, and reading at bedtime helped me relax, quiet my mind and get to sleep. My natural, enjoyable sleeping “pill.” I was still reading, and I didn’t recognize what went wrong. I usually have a stack of non-fiction books I’m reading — most of those related to wellness. But I always also have one, what I call “junk fiction,” book. I had so many of the others that I didn’t want to bother reading fiction. I was reading these books that give me ideas and information and more ideas and excitement over the possibilities of building better health and better lives for people … guess what happened? Yep, Brain really went into overdrive.

You’re feeling sleeeeeeepy …

Honor your body’s natural inclination to feel sleepy. I’d push off the nighttime rituals — let the dog out, brush my teeth, wash my face, change, etc., etc. — until I was feeling seriously sleepy. Guess what happened? Yep, wide awake again. Now I get that done reasonably close to bedtime, and, when that sleepy feeling hits, I hit the sack. In addition, I don’t read then either. If my body is giving me sleep signals, I honor them at that moment the best I can. I don’t indulge my love of reading if my eyes actually are drifting shut. I indulge, instead, my need for fuel — a good night’s sleep.

FEED me!

An unusual thing I discovered was that I sometimes need a snack before bed. Yay, bedtime snacking pronounced healthy! Whoa, not so quick there. Bedtime snack as in a handful of nuts, not bedtime snack as in a cookie. The former helps keep your blood sugar stable and you not waking because you’re actually hungry. The later will fill you for the moment, then plummet your blood sugar and make you a hungry, non-sleeping, monster.

Ah, the sweet smell of sleep

And, finally, I still use lavender as my number one favorite. Lavender oil or lavender hydrosol or fresh or dried or even in an oil I can massage on my neck and temples. Lavender still helps me relax, even if it sometimes doesn’t do the whole trick. It’s like a big dose of “Ahhhhhhhh.”

I hope this helps. The bigger the bag of tricks, the better. Especially when it’s a list of things you can try that won’t harm you. This gives you a lot of choice and chances. Sleep is critical to your health so it’s important not to brush aside the need for a good night’s rest. Do everything you can to sleep well so you can live well.