My husband had been suffering from insomnia until recently from around March 20.
His work shift had changed from evening shift to morning shift and this caused him to get the insomnia.
Seems like when people get older, ( over 50 years old ), it's easy to get insomnia when their life style changes and many people are experiencing the same issue as my husband.
I was very surprised to see it happened to him because I've never seen he had such an issue since we got together.
He was always no problem to fall a sleep no mater what, until recently.
and it always looked deep sleep, and he was not easy to wake up even I was making some noise while he was sleeping.
But since he got the sleeping problem, his sleep looked shallow, and easy to wake up whenever I close or open the door , taking a shower, using faucet to wash my hands or face.
Some days he could not sleep whole night and had to go to work without sleeping.
Some days he could sleep 3 hours, and longest he could sleep during the time was 4 hours.
Since the last couple weeks, he's sleeping much better and usually gets full night sleep.
Today, I would like to talk about what was the best way to get a good night sleep based on this experience.
He tried many things which are known as good for insomnia.
But most of them were not working, and some worked well 1 day, and the next day it did not work, and it was repeating like that.
Here is the list of good sleep techniques which worked well below,
1. Basil Tea
Recently we discovered that basil tea is the most powerful natural medicine for insomnia.
It does not have strong taste like rosemary or lemon balm , but it makes our feeling not only relax but also get very happy feeling and make us sleepy.
Whenever we drank it, we felt very relaxed and could sleep immediately and slept very well.
We feel it's much stronger than Chamomile and lemon balm or lavender or any other herbs we have ever tried.
Dry basil leaves may stronger than fresh basil leaves , so we both drink dry basil before going to bed, and in the morning I drink fresh basil to make me feeling happy.
How to make it ?
Boil water with the basil leaves ( fresh or dry ) in a pan and steep for about 30 minutes.
* Two table spoons of fresh basil leaves. and 2 cups of water.
* Two table spoon of dry basil leaves, and 2.5 cups of water.
2. Massage
So far, massage is the second best result for sleeping.
When I massaged his feet, legs, back, hip, neck, shoulders, ears ( on the ears and around the ears ), face ( around eyes area, jaw, etc..) , hands, arms at night, within 5 minutes, he fell a sleep and did not wake up until morning.
Even if he woke up after slept 4 hours because thirsty , or bathroom, he fell a sleep easily soon after that, and had slept until morning.
There is a spot for good sleep, which is located behind the ear.
When you push that area with your finger, you may feel pain if you have been having insomnia. But it's good to massage that area to get sleep.
Also your hands (including the fingers ) are full of spots for good sleep.
When we were watching DVD movie on the sofa, he often massage my feet and especially when he massages my hands, I always started to take a nap, because it was so comfortable, like I was in a heaven.
Massaging the whole body including face, hands and fingers can make our body and brain relax , so if nothing works, this is great to try when you go to bed.
3. Pasta
Pasta, especially Basil paste pasta was amazingly worked well.
After he ate Basil paste pasta, he said he felt sleepy and went to bed at night and slept until morning. ( did not wake up until morning )
Actually this pasta was the one which fixed his sleeping problem and since then he has not been having insomnia .
Also tomato sauce pasta (with onions, ham, mushroom, mix vegetables, asparagus, broccoli ) worked great as well.
Soon after he ate the tomato sauce pasta, he always started napping on a sofa. and then went to bed to sleep.
Soup pasta, peperoncini, cream sauce pasta also made him sleepy feeling as well.
4. Udon ( Japanese noodle )
Eating Udon noodle before going to bed made him sleep easily many times.
However when his mind was too anxious or pressure from something, it did not work.
( Avoid to sprinkle cayenne pepper powder in the udon soup, because it may wake you up. )
It's usually carb foods such as noodle, rice makes our feeling sleepy, so it is good to eat carb foods a lot for dinner to get good sleep.
5. Taking a warm bath for about 20 minutes
He tried this when nothing worked even after he drank lemon balm tea, deep sleep herb pills, melatonin liquid, and ate Udon noodle, and finally he could sleep.
One of the best ways to relax your brain and body so that it makes you feel sleepy.
6. Fried rice
Before he was getting the sleeping problem, he always fell a sleep after he ate fried rice with wantan vegetable soup for dinner.
It always made him sleepy.
But before going to sleep , it may better to eat foods which is easy to digest. ( such as Udon noodle )
7. Chamomile
It often worked for his sleeping problem when he took three capsules of powder chamomile.
But when he was too anxious , it did not work.
It always made him relax and calm though.
Benefits of Chamomile - anxiety, depression, insomnia, stress, anti-breast cancer,
8. Potato salad
The potato salad link below also has been good great result for sleeping.
http://miho-entwistle.blogspot.com/2017/11/my-favorite-potato-salad-recipe.html
When my husband needed to sleep, he ate the potato salad, and soon he got the sleepy feeling and fell asleep. However in the beginning it was working well but later sometimes it did not work. so it may not be the strongest remedy for insomnia.
Also, I do not suggest to include garlic seasoning into the mashed potato because it may wake you up.
Also, avoid to eat or take Cayenne pepper, Garlic, Reishi mushroom, which improve your immune system, while you are having sleeping problem.
These foods improve immune system and increase energy, and may interfere with sleep.
So if you eat or take these foods, the potato salad may not make you sleep.
9. Deep sleep pills
This combination herbal pill sometimes worked and could sleep about 4 hours , but sometimes did not work and he could not sleep.
Not sure why it's not always get the same result.
It has Passion flower, Chamomile, Valerian, Oat, California Poppy, Chamomile, Lemon Balm, Orange.
When we bought these herbal sleeping pills, the natural super market's shop seller/ herbal specialist told us that nothing worked for her and her boyfriend who is a nurse that often has unstable work schedule .
and these pills are the only one which worked for them.
so my husband tried it. So depending on the person it works well.
10. Fo ti
This can not be the main natural remedy for sleeping but it can help for other remedy to get good sleep.
This herb always makes our feeling calm and relaxed whenever we took the powder capsules.
My husband takes this capsule almost everyday. Helps to stay calm .
It helps to fix hormone balance as well.
11. Relaxation Music for sleeping
* Delta brainwave music.
These music worked once.
* Open all the chakra relaxation music
This music worked a few times.
* Tibetan Singing Bowl Meditation Chakra Healing | Third Eye | Brow Chakra
This music make both our feeling great. and sometimes it made my husband feeling sleepy.
* Binaural Beat's Music
My husband doesn’t like Binaural Beat's music because he had bad experience with it ( It made him losing focus or concentration during the work in the next day after he listened to it ), so he doesn't listen to it but it always made me feel sleepy.
So if you are fine with Binaural Beat's music it's a great way to get sleep as well.
12. Lemon Balm Tea
This is a strong herbal tea which makes his feeling relax and calm and sometimes sleepy feeling. ( but in my case, it made me to wake up, and could not sleep I do not know why ? ) But it's well-known that Lemon balm tea reduces symptoms of sleeping disorder, stress, anxiety, depression, and many people are getting good result from it.
Benefits of Lemon balm -
anxiety, insomnia, cold, cough, flu, stress relief, anti-depression, anti-inflammatory, improve immune system, anti respiratory infection, fights Alzheimer’s, dementia, fever, painful menstrual cramps, herpes, bloating, flatulence, headaches, high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes and insect bites.
13. Hot Milk with honey
This worked in the beginning with listening to relaxation music.
but from the next day, it was not working anymore.
Many of the methods worked once or twice, and then it doesn't work anymore I don't know why.
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For others,
He also tried these things below,
* Melatonin
He used 1mg liquid because he did not want to depending on this kind of things.
and as a result it worked only once and he could sleep 4 hours after taking it. After that, he tried it several times, but never worked anymore.
Maybe if it was 5mg or 10mg, it might have worked but we avoid to use it.
* Exercise
When he could not sleep after tried many things, he did some exercise such as walking, playing ball, stretch, but it made him more awake.
It might have worked if he was doing a lot during the day.
But when your brain is not relaxed, massage may be better way to get sleepy feeling.
* Herb pack
We have combination herb pack ( which is made of cloth ). Strongest smell is lavender in it, and he was putting it on his forhead while sleeping, but it did not work.
We bought it about 15 years ago, so it's old and that may be the reason why it does not work.
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As a result ;
He is still testing which method works the best, and so far,
Basil tea ( sweet basil tea) has been the most powerful, and massaging whole your body ( especially for the spots which are good for sleeping ) , eating pasta ( especially basil paste pasta ) are also great ways to solve insomnia through his experience.
Depending of the cause , it may get different result though.
It may be better to sloe the source of cause, such as anxiety, stress, depression first if possible.
For my husband's case, it happened because of his work schedule changed suddenly and also his age.
He had almost never had insomnia since we got together no matter what until this year, so aging maybe also the reason.
It's said that when people get older, it can often happen to everyone .
It's also better to avoid to take drug sleeping medicine which can get side effect and not good for our health.
So we recommend these natural remedies.
While I was searching many things about solving insomnia for him, I was actually very surprised to find out so many people are suffering from insomnia in the world from young to senior.
There are so many reasons but anxiety, stress, pressure, age, unstable life style, excitement, are the main causes for insomnia.
Point is getting the brain and whole body to relax , to get good sleep.