Sleep aids are helpful when you can’t sleep.
…Because there are times in life when you need sleep help.
Like when you miss your own bed.
…And sometimes stressful work or personal situations arise, and your mind runs on overdrive creating emotional turmoil within.
Deaths, divorces, and moves are some of those common situational times.
And if you have a combination of stressful situations, you can be deeply tested within.
…Not breaking down is how to come out stronger and better than before the situation arose.
In my recent case, stress for once wasn’t from a work-related stressor.
Stress was common during my corporate work days I used to do in the mover-and-shaker nation’s capital political area I grew up in.
Where people in the area are generally nice, but care more about what you do and what you can do for them.
Self-centered behaviors dominate over kindness and goodness.
Gratefully, I moved away from this area years ago, so I could get centered. …And to feel less stress.
But I kept getting pulled back to this area that I grew up in, that is air polluted with stress.
It’s a subtle pollution.
Rarely do you hear about long living Centenarians (like in the Blue Zones) in this pressure cooker environment (that looks like it has it all on the outside).
But some countries with seemingly less feel sorry for this type of self-absorbed culture that I called home for decades.
The “lesser” kinder cultures realize materialism doesn’t bring long lasting happiness.
I learned this on my life journey, and got off the material “happy” roller coaster, and jumped on the contentment bandwagon in slower paced places.
Joy is not the same as a temporary happy feeling.
Joy is underrated, until you don’t feel it… like in this current season where I was busy and feeling empty.
But coming back to the busy area “with so much” I grew up in was unavoidable.
Working remote on weekdays actually gave me a sense of purpose and a break from the stressors during the season.
And natural sleep aids helped me during the trying months.
I couldn’t pinpoint why I felt depleted.
…And did fun activities with familiar people.
But I remembered, how busyness and doing “fun” things doesn’t equate to feeling joy and satisfied with life.
They are temporary distractions.
They don’t fill the missing hole feeling you can’t put your finger on.
That was an old way of life I had grown out of.
But was pulled back into.
And I was also in a cycle of not getting enough sleep that didn’t help.
Food-as-medicine nutrients help in ways like sleep in those sleep depleted times.
Where I’m eating healthy as I normally do and I fit well in my summer (year-round) clothes and clothes sizes.
I am also taking herbal supplements.
The three I take arere: melatonin, magnesium, and ashwaghanda.
The first one I knew to take is magnesium, that’s a mineral.
It worked for a little while, until it didn’t… until the stressor grew.
Magnesium is good for helping you to relax and calm.
That was an easy choice, as it’s a daily mineral in foods like nuts and leafy greens.
But if you have emotional turmoil or worries that keep you up at night, magnesium may not be strong enough.
And taken with melatonin (the 2 “m’s” are good) can be an even better solution.
Since both magnesium and melatonin can make you drowsy, you want to take at night or about 30-45 minutes before bed.
And if you have anxiety, taking a third daily supplement like ashwagandha can help.
You can take ashwagandha as a non-drowsy drink herbal tea or as a pill.
But if it’s mostly sleep deprivation that has got you, then I found melatonin is the more effective bedside companion.
Melatonin helps to put you to sleep and is also good to have on hand if you’re traveling. It helps regulate your circadian rhythm (which is your body’s signals of when you’re sleeping and awake).
Tryptophan is the precursor to melatonin. It is an essential amino acid that converts into serotonin, melatonin, and Vitamin B3.
And you’ve probably heard of tryptophan from turkey dinners… maybe at Thanksgiving when people easily fall asleep because of the effect of tryptophan in turkey.
And salmon, chicken, eggs, dairy, soy beans, chia seeds, and milk also have tryptophan. Good to keep in mind if you’re trying getting your zzz’s! 😴