Are you tired of ly­ing awake, wide-eyed in­to the wee hours of the morn­ing, on­ly to fall asleep briefly be­fore dawn? To­day you’re go­ing to get the help that you need, and put an end to your con­stant toss­ing and turn­ing at night. It is time to get some sleep.

In­som­nia (pro­longed sleep­less­ness) op­er­ates in two main ar­eas, that is, phys­i­cal­ly and men­tal­ly. Phys­i­cal­ly, in­som­nia can be caused by overeat­ing or eat­ing late at night, poor cir­cu­la­tion or night time busy­ness or hy­per­ac­tiv­i­ty. Men­tal­ly, in­som­nia can be caused by anx­i­ety, wor­ry, fear of a neg­a­tive oc­cur­rence (whether con­scious­ly or sub­con­scious­ly) and chron­ic stress, which of course has a neg­a­tive ef­fect on the body. What­ev­er the cause, the con­stant lack of sleep can be quite in­ju­ri­ous to health, in­creas­ing the risk for ac­ci­dents dur­ing the day, mem­o­ry loss, heart dis­ease, ir­ri­tabil­i­ty and more.

Here are some nat­ur­al treat­ments you can try at home, that are sure to help you to get some much need­ed night-time rest.

Bay Leaf Tea

The rich and sooth­ing prop­er­ties of bay leaves make them an ex­cel­lent sleep aid. When con­sumed near bed time, bay leaves have a mild­ly seda­tive ef­fect on the cen­tral ner­vous sys­tem, there­fore re­duc­ing anx­i­ety, pro­mot­ing re­lax­ation and in­duc­ing sleep. They can al­so be used to aid di­ges­tion and can re­lieve bouts of in­di­ges­tion and gas. To make this tea, boil three to four medi­um-sized leaves in two cups of wa­ter. When warm, drink the tea one hour be­fore bed­time.

Sour­sop Leaf Tea

Home to trop­i­cal re­gions, sour­sop is an ex­ot­ic fruit and its leaves con­tain many med­i­c­i­nal prop­er­ties. In the area of sleep, like bay leaves, sour­sop leaves are al­so mild­ly seda­tive and are there­fore able to re­duce anx­i­ety and ner­vous­ness, pro­mote re­lax­ation and in­duce sleep. Sour­sop leaves are al­so use­ful in aid­ing di­ges­tion and boost­ing the im­mune sys­tem. To make this tea, boil three to four leaves in two cups of wa­ter. When warm, drink the tea one hour be­fore bed­time.

Hot Foot Soak

A foot bath is a re­li­able tech­nique that helps to re­lax and detox­i­fy the body, im­prove cir­cu­la­tion, re­duce high blood pres­sure and re­lieve stress. When Ep­som salts are added to the foot bath, the mag­ne­sium in these salts is ab­sorbed through the skin, pro­mot­ing re­lax­ation in mus­cles and blood ves­sels and re­duc­ing in­flam­ma­tion and pain. It is quite heal­ing to the body and mind. To make your own foot bath, use a basin that is large enough for you to com­fort­ably rest both your feet in. Fill the basin with very warm wa­ter (as hot as you can bear) un­til the wa­ter cov­ers your an­kles for the least. Dis­solve ? cup of Ep­som salts in the wa­ter, and soak your feet in the basin for 15 min­utes. It is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed that you drink a hot cup of bay leaf or sour­sop leaf tea while soak­ing your feet.

Find Ways to De-Stress

Your body will al­ways re­flect the state of your mind. When your mind is not at rest, nei­ther will your body be at rest. Com­bined with the above reme­dies, you must find ways to re­lieve your stress. This can in­clude mod­er­ate dai­ly ex­er­cise, re­mov­ing your­self from noisy and ag­gra­vat­ing en­vi­ron­ments and cre­at­ing a peace­ful at­mos­phere where you live and work, fre­quent prayer and med­i­ta­tion, mas­sages, writ­ing, read­ing and more. What­ev­er helps you to un­wind, make it a dai­ly habit and it will do won­ders for you when you go to bed at night.

I’m sure that these reme­dies will help you in your quest for a good night’s sleep. Best wish­es on your jour­ney to bet­ter health.