# Natural Sleep Aid



## John_Canada (Aug 17, 2013)

I have been trying to stop taking over the counter sleep aids (Diphenhydramine) and saw Dr Oz recommending Lemon Balm Tea. Problem is I cant find it anywhere in my area of Canada. I can grow it next year no prob but doesnt help me now. I did find what they call a sleep aid tea which is camomile, lemon, mint tea and it somewhat works but no where near does it give me a full nite sleep.

Any recommendations.

I like the idea of the lemon balm as Oz said it helps with stress as well.


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## MichaelZ (May 21, 2013)

For me, getting chilled down good works well. Then, as soon as I warm up under the covers, I am out like a light. Of course, if my feet never warm up, then I don't fall asleep, so sometimes a pair of socks is needed. Everyone is different though.


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

Lemon balm is a nice enough iced tea, but it does nothing for me as far as making me sleepy. Don't drink too much of it (like a gallon a day) as it is a thyroid inhibitor.
Chamomile etc.. doesn't make me sleepy and neither does valerian.

Hops could do it for you, so maybe a bit of a hops tincture or passion flower could help you out too. It is nice soaked in a brandy.

I grow an extensive medicinal herb garden. I use herbs for pretty much everything.
But to get that kind of sleep....... I take Diphenhydramine.
Or I drink a mug of HOT milk. You gotta get it good and hot to change the chemistry of it. You can add a splash of vanilla, a wee bit of chocolate, some honey or a wee splash of a good brandy.
That knocks me on my butt so fast I almost can't make it to bed.


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## housewife (Mar 16, 2006)

John Canada I'm not sure where you are in Canada but right now I'm stuck between Toronto and London. If it was on Dr Oz I'm betting I can find it here. If you want me to look just say the word.


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## Taylor R. (Apr 3, 2013)

Melatonin is the go to in our house for sleep. My 5 year old and my husband take it every night.


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## LizKapoor (Nov 20, 2013)

Depends on what is causing the insomnia.

You can take taurine to lower your stress hormone, cortisol. And GABA will help decrease dopamine, which reduces your brain activity. Chamomile tea is good as well. 

Melatonin is quite good as well.


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## John_Canada (Aug 17, 2013)

Thank you everyone! I will try each. Housewife, I will be down that area in just awhile will look around. If you come across a shop while you give me the name? I am checking a couple last places here and in Detroit. If I am not mistaken we cannot get Melatonin in Canada anymore but maybe I am thinking l-tryptophan. Will see. I remember having really bad dreams when my doctor suggested that years ago tho.


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

You can order lemon balm tea online.
It is cheap and easy to come by.

If you want fresher, I can mail you some.
I can go out and pick and set it to dry with no problem.
I bet a lot of us would gladly spare some.


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## Sparticle (Nov 1, 2004)

I use Wild Lettuce tea with a shot of Peach bark extract. Knocks me OUT! 

Here is one part of a series I wrote on sleep health, don't know if it'll help. quite long, ugh!

I do have wild lettuce that I could sell you and peach bark, but it's not on my website because I don't have much.

http://slatehill.blogspot.com/2013/02/part-ii-on-sleep-disorders-and.html


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

Oh yes.
Wild lettuce is an awesome sedative.
Pffft.. the things some people consider weeds...


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## sdnapier (Aug 13, 2010)

chickenista said:


> You can order lemon balm tea online.
> It is cheap and easy to come by.
> 
> If you want fresher, I can mail you some.
> ...


Hi Chickenista, does your lemon balm plant die in the winter? I am in southeast VA and can't keep it. Maybe you have a green house? Also, what is 
wild lettuce? Thanks, Sheryl


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## chickenista (Mar 24, 2007)

The best bet on the Wild Lettuce is to google it for images.
That way you can know if you ahve it in your yard.
When it starts out it looks a wee bit like a dandelion, but then it shoots up about 7 feet, blooms with little blossoms on stalks and makes fluffy seed puffs.

You collect the sap by cutting it and letting it drain or by cutting the thnner parts of the stalk and tincturing etc..
Can be a tea, made fresh or a tincture and it has some of the effects of opium, but without any of the negatives.
It is a sedative. Nice and mild, but effective.

And my 'mints'; lemon balm, bee balm, catnip etc.. stay a bit over the winter.
The bee balm (my GG grandfather's strain) regrows and stays purpl-y green all winter, but very short adn close to the ground. Smells great in January when the sun hits it.
And the same for the others pretty much.
I will have small bits of each plant that stay over the winter.
I have mounds and mounds and mounds of the lemon balm. I have just let it go. Very appealing shape and good for the beneficial insects and I don't have to mow that part of the yard.
Same with the catnip. It is one of my most favorite scents and I just let it go where it would like. I picks up and moves every year or two. Very strange.


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## WV Farm girl (Nov 26, 2011)

Sometimes I drink catnip tea. It seems to calm me and helps me sleep. 
I started with a little plant from the pet store and now 2 yrs later I easily end up with nearly a gallon jar full of dried leaves n flowers a year.


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## housewife (Mar 16, 2006)

Hey John Canada I was right. I was in a store called Goodness Me today and they did have the Lemon Balm tea. It's a chain and DH said he saw one in Sudbury so you can get it and not worry about getting it back across. I'm guessing that if they have it it will be all the others.


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## RubyRed (Sep 24, 2011)

I use Valerian root on occasion to help me sleep better. Seems like my sleep interruption goes in patterns.


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## MoonRiver (Sep 2, 2007)

I used to take benedryl, valerian root, and magnesium. Then I learned benedryl was bad if you have prostate problems, which I do, so I stopped it. Took a while to adjust. A couple of months ago I was able to stop everything. Another adjustment period. Now I fall asleep quickly when I hit the bed. Magnesium is good and should probably be taken whether a person has a sleep problem or not. Mag malate is probably best for night-time use.

You want the bedroom as dark as you can get it: cool, NO BLUE lights, no lights at all if possible, turn off your wifi before bed, blackout curtains, minimize emf (no tv, radio, etc) in room. Your brain is excited and you have to calm it down. Light, especially blue light, and emf excite your brain. You've got to get them out of the bedroom. Sleep specialists even recommend no tv, computer, etc for a couple of hours before bed. Put flux on your computer. Wear blue blocker glasses after dark.

Use self hypnosis to relax your body. Start at your toes and imagine them feeling relaxed, warm, and heavy. Then slowly continue this up your body, part by part. Don't continue to the next until the part you are addressing feels warm, relaxed, and heavy. 

If you get all the way to the top of your head, just lie there relaxed and feel your entire body being relaxed, warm, and heavy sinking into the bed. If after a couple of minutes you don't feel yourself dozing off, add this. Imagine you are now, while still in your bed, in a 10 floor elevator on the top floor. As the elevator slowly goes down, imagine yourself feeling heavier and heavier and sinking deeper and deeper into your bed. Also imagine it getting darker and darker as you slowly go lower.

If you start to feel things getting darker and darker and your body being pulled down into the bed, just relax and go with it. If you get all the way down and haven't fallen asleep, or at least feel very relaxed and drowsy, take a benedryl!


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## Laura Zone 5 (Jan 13, 2010)

What would you suggest for "stress and menopause induced insomnia"??


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## MichaelZ (May 21, 2013)

Laura Zone 10 said:


> What would you suggest for "stress and menopause induced insomnia"??


I don't know much about menopause, but in the last month or so I started putting on some Essential Oils Peppermint at bedtime and I have been sleeping all night, just about every night. It works great on sore muscles and ligaments, and overall relaxes me. I use 2-3 drops in a quarter size dab of the EO gel. 

I have tried melatonin. For some it works. For me, I quickly fall asleep but then wake up in the middle of the night, thinking I am dying!


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## Ellendra (Jul 31, 2013)

I see lots of suggestions for stress-related insomnia, so I won't repeat what's already there. But, if the reason you can't sleep is due to RLS or physical restlessness, try skullcap. It's an herbal muscle relaxer.

It's also good if you know you over worked or stressed out a muscle. Take it right before bed, and you won't hurt quite so much the next day.


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## painterswife (Jun 7, 2004)

Laura Zone 10 said:


> What would you suggest for "stress and menopause induced insomnia"??


Magnesium and potassium. Magnesium is something we get short on as we age and go through menopause. Soak in epsom salts in the short term and then take a daily supplement or get an oil and rubs some on before bed. It really works.


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## 1948CaseVAI (May 12, 2014)

Melatonin will work. Watch what you buy and if it is time-release you need to chew it a bit to get rid of the time release coating and let the whole thing go to work at once. 5 mg works wonders for my wife and I.

Also, please be cautious doing anything recommended by the Oz character. He is an exposed quack (go to the quackwatch site and just search for 'oz'). The lemon tea will not hurt you and may even taste good, but that charlatan doesn't know squat about anything but heart surgery, which is certainly not trivial, but he should have stayed in his lane with that.


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## deb_rn (Apr 16, 2010)

I have chronic insomnia... 30+ yrs now. I have tried it ALL. Sometimes I "think" one or the other will work... then it doesn't. I never sleep well, but sometimes I sleep even worse! Waking up 3 times a night is a good night! I have both difficulty getting to sleep AND staying asleep. I tell people, "the first 5 hrs is the hardest, then you stop obsessing over it". I just got a CPAP last week for sleep apnea... that could be a cause as well. I'm working on getting used to it. I'm a nurse, but never knew how serious sleep apnea is for so many functions of your system! I'm hoping this will help my overall health.
My lemon balm (in Wisconsin) comes up reliably every year and is a weed if I don't yank out a few hundred plants every year! I don't use it for anything, but I like to pick a leaf and rub it between my fingers when I'm working out in the yard...mmm so refreshing!

Good Luck!
Debbie


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## wdcutrsdaughter (Dec 9, 2012)

My dh has a hard time sleeping and our naturopath suggested double doses of sleepytime tea. double dose meaning two tea bags. so far so good!

she also recommended high quality lavender essential oil on the back of the neck

good luck!


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## eXo0us (Nov 14, 2015)

Exercise ! Doing a workout a physical challenging workout 5-6 days a week. I have a hard time getting sleep If I don't get my body totally exhausted.

Yeah and hard farm work doesn't count. Sorry about that. It has to be exercised and focused.


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## CalicoPrairie (Nov 1, 2015)

I take 1800 mg of calcium before bed and 2-3 valerian when I'm feeling my anxiety flare up. It's good for sleep for me too, but if taken for too many weeks in a row, it can have an opposite effect.


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## spanky (Oct 21, 2007)

Had sleep problems for a long time. tried everything, the best remedy by far is about 1/2 to 1/4 tsp of honey. just a little on the spoon and wash it down with some water. then read a book til I get sleepy.


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