Natural medicine alternatives to sleeping pills
Having a qualitative restful sleep is of paramount importance for health. Everybody knows that, yet today, most humans lack it.
It is no secret that sleeping problems are widespread in the population nowadays. This is due to a combination of many factors from different sources.
Whether it is a loss of quality or/and quantity, sleeping problems quickly become problematic for everyday life. This is why, when people start to have sleeping problems, they usually don’t take long to see a doctor, that will, inevitably, prescribe sleeping pills.
As a result, millions of humans are under sleeping medication regularly. Sadly, these chemical pills have important side effects and do not allow for real good sleep to happen.
Importance of sleep for health
No human being can live without sleep. Sleep is, therefore, a vital function.
Health requires more than just a few hours of blackout due to an accumulation of fatigue. Sleep is the phase of the 24 hours where the body can regenerate and repair itself provided that sleep is true, i.e. naturally induced and maintained in calm for 6 to 8 hours.
Sleep has several phases which are all essential, even if we talk a lot about REM sleep with rapid eye movement, the phase of sleep where we are most active and where we dream.
To sleep well, you need to be mentally and physically relaxed, these two points are fundamental to ensuring quality sleep.
Perhaps the most important impact on our health is that quality sleep is essential for the proper functioning of our endocrine glands, allowing sufficient hormonal secretion to ensure vitality and longevity. Then, sleep allows the cleaning of the body and the psyche. For this, it is important to sleep before midnight and especially at night.
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Reasons for sleeping problems
Many things can trouble our capacity to sleep.
They can be split into two major categories:
- Environmental pollution
- Health problems
Environmental pollution
Environmental pollution has increased dramatically over these last couple of decades. This is especially true for major cities.
Humans, like all other animal species, have to respect certain conditions in order to be able to sleep correctly. When those conditions are not met, the quality of sleep will be inevitably affected.
Whether it is sound, light, air, or electromagnetic pollution, they can all affect your sleep.
For sound, a lot of people use earplugs. Although they are useful if no alternative solutions are available, they won’t allow for optimal sleep and will be problematic if used regularly.
Health problems
Most health problems can have a negative impact on your sleep. Here are some common examples:
- Snoring
- Mental turmoil
- Need to urinate
- Restless legs syndrome
- Heavy sweating
- Heartburn
- Heart palpitations
- Headache
- Muscle spams
- etc.
Problems with sleeping pills
There are three significant problems with sleeping pills:
- They do not address the different causes of the sleeping problem
- They do not give you quality sleep
- They have strong side effects
The first problem is common to most chemical medications, as the aim is to suppress the symptoms and not treat the causes.
The second point is specific to sleeping pills. People taking them regularly experience what we like to call the zombie effect.
The zombie effect is that even though they sleep, they don’t get the benefit of it. This makes them wake up as tired as when they went to sleep the night before.
This is not even mentioning patients who don’t sleep unless they are taking more and more sleeping pills.
The reason is that sleeping pills are heavy drugs that are used to shoot the brain, bringing you in an altered state of consciousness.
But this altered state of consciousness has nothing to do with actual good sleep with the different physiological sleep phases we need. It is like comparing a coma to a good nap.
The third problem is inherent to the use of all chemical drugs. Indeed, any chemical drug has side effects, it’s inevitable. This is due to the fact that they are chemical, aka non-natural, and therefore not compatible with our biology.
For sleeping medication, the side effects vary depending on the chemical molecule used, but they generally include the following:
- Drowsiness during the day
- Decreased attention span
- Psychomotor retardation
- Anxiety
- Memory disorders
- Gaining weight or losing weight
- Liver toxicity
- Drug dependence
- Hypotension
- Muscle weakness, asthenia
- etc.
How can natural medicine help with sleep?
The natural medicine approach, as always, is to go with the body instead of against it. Regarding sleeping problems, that means respecting the natural way of sleeping and treating the causes.
The health problems that prevent a person from having a restful sleep are numerous, and for natural medicines, it is logical to propose therapeutic solutions to these problems and not to focus only on the sleep problem.
This can be, for example, a digestive disorder, breathing difficulties, joint pain, skin problems, or hormonal dysfunction.
Obviously, this means that there is not one cure for all sleeping problems and that not all sleeping problems can be helped equally.
Additionally, natural treatments will help natural regulation tools of the body in order to improve sleep and overall health.
Identifying the causes and addressing the related health problems will require the help of a holistic natural health expert, but for environmental pollution, you can do a lot by yourself already.
Tips for better quality sleep:
- Sleep in complete darkness
- Remove all artificial sounds
- Invest in a good quality bedding
- Do not eat or drink alcohol before sleeping, instead drink herbal tea if you like
- Do not do severe physical activity 3 hours before sleeping
- Avoid long exposure to screens before sleeping (tv, phone, pc, laptop, etc.)
- Avoid stressful mental activity before sleeping
- Promote activities like reading, listening to music, taking a walk before sleeping
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Barone Holistic Experts is a distinguished team of three highly skilled natural healthcare professionals. With certifications in Naturopathy and Traditional Chinese Medicine, they possess a collective experience of over 50 years.
Their primary focus is on delivering personalized treatments and creating comprehensive long-term plans that enable individuals to achieve optimal health. They prioritize the unique needs of each client, striving to provide the best possible results.
Renowned as pioneers and authorities in alternative therapies, this team has gained a well-deserved reputation. Through their combined expertise and collaborative efforts, they offer an extensive range of solutions to their clients.
These include homeopathy, aromatherapy, phytotherapy, reflex methods (Auriculotherapy, Sympathicotherapy, Reflexology), manual techniques (Osteopathy, Tui Na, Reboutology, Trigger point, Fascia therapy), Nutrition and micro nutrition, and many more.
Beyond their clinical practice, they are deeply committed to educating their clients about holistic health. They empower individuals by educating them on how to improve their well-being through dietary choices, lifestyle modifications, and mindful life decisions.
