8 of the Best Natural Sleep Remedies for a Rested Body and Mind

Counting sheep but getting no sleep is miserable! We all know how difficult it is to function in our daily lives when we’re not getting enough rest or our sleep quality is poor.

As a hopeless night owl myself, these are the best natural sleep remedies I have found for when I need to fall asleep at a reasonable hour!

*As I find alternatives or other solutions that work, I’ll be sure to update this post!

Don’t count sheep when you could be having sweet sleep instead! These natural sleep remedies can help you fall asleep and stay asleep. #sleep #health

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How I’ve chosen my best natural sleep remedies

For as long as I can remember in my life, I’ve had difficulty sleeping. My heart goes out to anyone who deals with this same issue.

That was my inspiration for polling folks on my Twitter and Instagram back in 2020 about what keeps them awake at night.

The results were:

• Anxiety/Racing Thoughts – 45.5%
• Pain – 13.6%
• Stress – 27.3%
• Other – 13.6%

Those results, along with my own experiences, are what caused me to pick what I have as my personal best natural sleep remedies.

It’s not a one-size fits all kind of problem. That’s why this post will cover a range of topics from choosing the right bed to finding the right supplement.

I hope this post blesses you and helps you get some much needed shut-eye tonight. 💤 I’m praying for you, my friend!

I believe these ideas below can be life-changing. If you have any questions about either, please let me know!

Choose the right mattress and size for you

It may seem obvious, but it’s impossible to write a post about the best natural sleep remedies without mentioning the most important part; your mattress!

It’s tempting to go easy on our wallets by choosing a cheap mattress, but this is a terrible idea. We spend an estimated 1/3 of our lives in bed, which is why finding the right mattress is one of the most important investments you can make for your health.

As a chronic pain sufferer, I know first-hand the misery a worn out or wrong firmness mattress can bring.

When choosing a new mattress, do your research and take your time deciding what type of bed best suits your budget, body type, and sleeping position.

Don’t forget, the size of bed you choose is important too! For example, it can be confusing deciding between full and queen for many people. True story: I actually fell out of the bed once while tossing and turning in a mattress smaller than I was used to! ha ha. Plop! Down I went into the floor!

As explained in their post, GhostBed recommends a full size mattress for teens or adults who sleep alone. Queens are best suited for couples … or you might need the larger size if you are prone to falling out of it while flopping all around like a madwoman, like yours truly! 😉

If you already have a bed and you’re waking up hurting; you probably need a new mattress. If that’s just not possible right now, consider a quality mattress topper for comfort until you can.

If pain or discomfort is the reason you’re having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep, this is a great place to start.

Don’t forget to clean your mattress too so all those nights of Zzzz’s don’t build-up and end up keeping you up!

Essential oils are your new best friend

These days, I feel like essential oils have become some kind of trendy buzz word. But in my humble opinion, quality oils are NOT overrated.

Those little bottles of oil have improved my life. I apply them every night on my belly and neck/chest area (3 – 4 drops each) about 30 minutes to 1 hour before I want to fall asleep.

I don’t use a diffuser in our bedroom because we have cats and there is a lot of concern about essential oils being deadly for kitties. To be safe, we just don’t.

If that isn’t an issue for you, diffusing oils into your home is a powerful way to experience their many benefits.

What I love about essential oils is how there’s an oil for pretty much any need. If you’re anxious, there’s an oil for that. If you’re in pain, there’s an oil that can give relief. If you need extra help just feeling sleepy, there’s an oil for that too.

Here are my personal favorites:

• For stress, anxiety, and racing minds – Relax blend

• For stress, anxiety, and racing minds – Worry Free blend

• For soothing pain relief – Rapid Relief Blend

• For soothing pain relief – Sweet Marjoram

• For help with sound sleep – Sleep Tight blend

• For help with sound sleep – Nighty Night blend

* Note: Nighty Night is also an excellent oil for helping kids fall asleep quicker and staying asleep through the night.

Oils like lavender are also must-haves in our home, but the reason I love those blends so much is that they include our favorites with others that work together for better results.

Plus, I genuinely look forward to smelling them every night. It’s therapy all by itself! Guess that’s why they call it aroma-therapy. 😉

Sincerely, I highly recommend giving this a try if you deal with stress and anxiety + racing thoughts, pain, or just the typical difficulty falling asleep. It really could help you!

I don’t make any guarantees and I’m no doctor but they have definitely made a difference for me.

Supplements and teas

I believe in the power of natural medicine the way God created it. Each of these supplements or teas are either in my current routine or have been at one time or another.

🌺 #1 – Magnesium lotion: This is easily one of my most trusted and best natural sleep remedies. Along with essential oils, it has been a life-changer for me. Magnesium does much more than we realize; from helping regulate our moods to protecting our hearts.

When it comes to sleep or pain though; for me, that’s where magnesium is the real winner. Currently, I use this lotion each evening. Simply rub a quarter-sized amount into any painful areas, or on the feet, legs, arms, or stomach.

Start with smaller amounts at first (dime-sized) so your body can adjust slowly, which helps prevent upset stomach. After applying, it’s typical to begin feeling relaxed and drowsy within 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Up to 50% of the population doesn’t get enough magnesium from their diet so supplementing consistently with magnesium lotion can dramatically improve many areas of health. If you suffer from anxiety – I highly recommend giving this a try!

🌸 # 2 – Melatonin: This is a hormone your body naturally produces in response to darkness that gives you the ‘time to go to bed’ kind of feeling. Supplementing with melatonin increases the amount of hormone released in your body, which makes you feel drowsy and helps you stay asleep.

This option is best only for a short-term sleep helper.

This is not a suitable solution for everyone because some people experience negative side effects, especially depression sufferers.

For me, I prefer to go without it, and am trying to do so, but when I need the extra help, I choose these –> melatonin gummies. I chose those because they only have 3mg of melatonin but also have chamomile, passsionflower, and lemon balm.

Each of those ingredients also relax the mind and body, help you fall asleep and stay asleep, and reduce stress levels overall. I’ve taken just melatonin in the past and was not nearly as satisfied. To be totally honest, even though melatonin does work to reset your body clock – I do not think it’s a wise idea to take this long-term.

🌺 # 3 – Sleepy tea: These special blends of tea made my best natural sleep remedies list because they are gentle, effective, and safe. Plus, the nighttime ritual of making you a cuppa tea, and sitting down to relax with it is soothing all by itself.

Since melatonin can be problematic for people, this sleepy tea is a great choice because it has L-Theanine which is a natural relaxer, also found in green tea. Additionally it uses California Poppy known for its use to reduce pain, treat anxiety, and induce sleep.

Another great option that I have even gifted to family are the Sleepytime blends from Celestial Seasonings. They taste nice and definitely help you wind down after a long day.

🌸 # 4 – Linen sprays: I’ll be honest with you, when I tried a nighttime linen spray for the first time years ago, I thought it would be a joke! It wasn’t. There are so many available on the market today but quality matters. Some have added harsh chemicals, synthetic fragrances and other bad-for-you junk.

If you have any local aromatherapy shops around you – there’s a good chance they’ll have a pillow spray for this purpose. Because we love Plant Therapy oils, we love this sleepy pillow spray. It’s also available here on Amazon, if you’re interested

It works much the same as essential oils do, by relaxing your mind and body through your sense of smell. Don’t knock it until you try it. I notice a huge improvement in my sleep quality when I mist this all over our bed linens and pillowcases. So does my husband, actually!

*With each of these options, the effect is much more subtle than prescription medications. For most people you will feel a gentle calm, a relaxed body and a quieted mind which helps you get to sleep and (hopefully) stay that way through the night.

Clean air and white noise

In our bedroom, on any given night, we have the ceiling fan on and our little hard worker, the Okaysou air purifier running full-speed-ahead.

Poor indoor air quality has been proven to interfere with quality sleep. It makes sense when you think about it; who gets deep sleep when they’re waking up sneezing, has a headache, or have chronic sinus irritation? I know that I don’t.

I can’t imagine sleeping without our air purifier now because not only does it keep our bedroom air fresh, but it also provides the perfect amount of ‘soothing noise‘ to drown out my mind running over-time.

If you struggle with a mind that doesn’t like to shut off when you lie down, you might find this helpful too.

Journaling and Prayer

As a believer in Jesus, I believe in the power of prayer. I believe the Scriptures when it says:

When you lie down, you will not be afraid;

when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

Proverbs 3:24

Sweet sleep is a promise of God; a desire of His heart for His beloved children to be in peace. It’s a gift He gave us, to be renewed and restored each day.

Prayer shouldn’t be our last resort but our first choice. We forget how loving our God truly is and how much He cares. He knows our anxious thoughts and longs to calm us with His love.

When worries overwhelm my heart and sleep is but a dream, I turn to the Lord. I tell Him all about it until the burden is eased and I feel His embrace. Sometimes that means just sitting quietly in His presence, no words needed. I encourage you to do the same.

Instead of counting sheep, let the Good Shepherd lead you to those still waters your soul craves.

Journaling, in any form, is also a huge help for those of us who struggle with regular sleep.

“There’s something about the act of writing—physically writing something on paper—that tends to offload it a little bit, or help us hit the pause button on it. The outcome seems to be that you decrease cognitive arousal, and that you decrease rumination and worry,” explains Psychology Today.

It doesn’t sound like it should really be that helpful, but ‘dumping’ those thoughts out does for our minds what de-cluttering does for our homes.

Whether you choose a gratitude journal or a plain piece of paper to write down tomorrow’s to-do list, you just might find that you make room for what matters — sweet sleep! 😴

If you are someone who tends to wake up in the middle of the night with a racing mind, keep a pen and paper nearby your bedside. When you wake up and can’t go back to sleep, write down whatever you are going over in your head. This helps stop that overthinking loop!

Just remember; avoid electronic screens because those only disrupt your sleep cycle even more!

Conclusion

I know this post is on the longer side, but my hope is something on this list of my best natural sleep remedies makes a difference in your life.

Good sleep should be taken seriously. Without it, our health, life, and relationships suffer in every way. There are too many natural ways to improve the quality and duration of our sleep to live miserable.

I’d really love to hear from you in the comments section.

• Do you struggle with sleeping? Have you found anything that helps you?
• Do you currently use any of the ones mentioned in this post?

And please, if you enjoyed this, give the gift of better sleep to someone you care about by sharing this post with them. Thank you with my whole heart. ❤️

With Heartfelt Love,