Valerian - this is a herbal extract that is used to manage lack of sleep and anxiety and panic attacks. Many people say that taking valerian actually improves the quality of their lseep and also it minimizes the time needed to fall asleep once gone to bed. Also when waking up the next day there are no side effects, such as dizziness or headaches after having taken the valerian.

Apparently if you use valerian for a longer period of time rather than as a one-off remedy it will be more effective in helping you fall asleep easier.

Melatonin - is actually a hormone produced by our body and it usually regulates our circadian rhythms. Just before going to sleep our levels of melatonin are the highest.

Again, without an actual FDA approval, melatonin seems to help with lack of sleep problems by decreasing the time needed to fall asleep once in bed. Also it has the added benefit of increasing sleep duration. There are studies are trying to prove that melatonin works in people with depression by improving their sleep patterns.

You can find melatonin as a dietary supplement. A few side effects that various people found with taking it is that it causes dizziness and in some even depression. Alternatively some people found that they do fall asleep easily but they wake up in the middle of the night instead. When taken it should be only used for a short time (less than 3 months).

Maybe one of the most popular sleep remedies out there that have practically no side effects is chamomille. This is truly a folk remedy passed down from grandmother to mother to daugther. Chamomile is also used when experiencing stomach pains and to reduce inflammations.

The German chamomile can be consumed as a tea and the Roman chamomile as it has a rather bitter taste can only be used in the form of tincture. Basically chamomile helps the body to relax enough that sleep can be easier induced.

There are many other natural sleep aid types available, however these are the most common. In future articles I will address a few more.

So how do you determine your score? Well, if you answered with Yes to more than 1 question, you probably have a sleep disorder. Your lack of sleep, or insomnia might be born out of something more serious.

“Serious’ doesn’t mean that your life is over or anything like that What it means is that you need to address it, as it’s not a ‘normal’ way of being, even if you are already used to the situation.

You can first try out the tips and help given in the book Sleeptracks, which gives you sound advice on what to do on most of these issues. Most of the times you can get rid of these by following tried and tested advice.

There are cases though when really nothing works. Your best bet in that case is definitely a professional practitioner, who will give you proper treatment and medication for aleviating your condition.

The question becomes is insomnia a sleep disorder of it’s own, or is it a symptom or side effect of another condition? Not everyone agrees on one final answer at this time.

The eBook Sleep Tracks answers exactly this question as a starting point. Based on years or research into lack of sleep and insomnia, this book gives some interesting answers that will help you with your lack of sleep. Starting with Defining Lack of Sleep, it then goes into the Sleep Cycles and why they are important to us. It looks into who all suffers from insomnia, and how serious a lack of sleep can be for us. Once we all understand what exactly happens during our lack of sleep, the book will give solutions and various treatment options that one can employ to ge out of this vicious cycle.

While the author is not a medical professional, the tips, cures and treatments presented are sound and can be safely used by everyone who is currently suffering from a lack of sleep. If you want to know more about this condition, and what you can do about it, get this book and read it. It will open your eyes to some new possibilities, and options you have probably never tried before - and which will probably be just what cures your lack of sleep!

With a 30 days money back guarantee, you have plenty of time to read the book, learn the cures and even return if you feel it’s not all that it claimed to be. 100% risk free, the risk is all on me!

Lack of sleep comes in various forms, but if you strip it down to the bares, it really means being unable to sleep or rest for more than a little at a time. Whoever has ever struggled with it, knows how frustrating and debilitating this can be. What many don’t realise is that a very valid cause of this can be dehydration. It is actually something that people do not associate typically with insomnia at all, however drinking enough water to bring out out of the dehydrated state might just be the cure to ones lack of sleep.

But how much water should one drink daily? We are over 90% water, so any lack of it in our body will cause some serious problems. On average, one needs to need to drink one half of ones body weight every day in ounces of water.  For example, a 200 pound man will have to drink 100 ounces of water. This might seem like a lot, however it can easily be done by only drinking five 20 ounce bottles of water throughout the day. Do it this way: drink one bottle when you get up, one before you go to bed and spread the other three out through the day.

Also natural sea salt should be present in our body in an amount that ensures that the water will stay in the body long enough for hydrating us. What you could do is  take just a pinch of salt every time you drink water.  If you feel you start to swell a bit, cut back on the amount of salt and you will notice that the swelling will go away quickly.

It is amazing how many times people are trying all sorts of overcomplicated procedurs and cures, while completely ignoring the basics. You’d would be surprised with how often dehydration is at the root of insomnia problems and how often it’s curable just like that.

History is full with examples of people who lived at the times of some major transformation, who contributed greatly to the pleasures of life, who were able to do their work on half that amount of sleep. That it is possible to do top notch intellectual work  and maintain a degree of vitality enabling one to live out the scriptural allotment is evidenced by Herbert Spencer.

• “Appearances gave the impression that I was in fair health,” he tells us in his autobiography. ”Appetite and digestion were both good, and my bodily strength, seemingly not less than it had been, as tested by walking, was equal to that of most men who lead town lives. This continued to be my state for many years. Both then and afterwards, my sleeping remained quite abnormal. A night of sound sleep was and has ever continued to be unknown to me : my best nights being such as would commonly be called bad ones save when leading a rural life with working and out door sports to occupy attention. It probably averaged between four and five hours of unconsciousness, but it was never continuous. The four or five hours were made up of bits ; and if one of the bits was two hours long, it was something unusual. Ordinarily my nights had from a dozen to a score of wakings. Moreover, at that time and for five and twenty years after the sensation of drowsiness was never experienced.”

This paragraph from the life ’s record of one of our greatest thinkers should reassure many an insomniac about lack of sleep and how much sleep one does really need.

What if you think instead of air pockets, air bubbles and each of them has a sleepy, meek sheep in it, looking lazily over to you? Heck, even reading this sentence puts me to sleep! See the difference? Activity, action never goes well with falling asleep. On the opposite side of action there is slowing down, so here is an exercise for you to try when you next time have a problem falling asleep:

When you notice some urgent, angry, stressed or otherwise active thought pass through your mind repeatedly just when you try to sleep, hold that thought. Take it slowly one word at a time and say it in your mind very slowly. So if your thought is ‘I have to finish that essay tomorrow’, think of it this way: ‘I’lll hhhaaaavvveeeeee ttoooo ffiiinnnishhhhh tttthhhattt esssssaayyy..’ see the difference? Your forcing your mind to slow down, to say it slower in your mind.

Once you get this down, then make it even slower. Drag those words and letters even more. Then do it once again, but this time pay attention to not say in your mind the whole sentence. So this will become:

I’ll have to finish that…
I’ll have to finish…
I’ll have to…
I’ll…

all this of course, in the slow down motion. For one, you will forget about the actual thought of having to action something tomorrow, and focus instead of slowing down your mind, on the little fun exercise. Second, this exercise will really slow down your mind, even without your control, which is exactly what we want to achieve. You might need to do this a few times in the beginning, until your mind gets used to this, but it shouldn’t take long until you really sleep like a baby

Something that I’ve read a while ago - and truth be told, I completely forgot about it - addresses this exact problem of insomnia. It is a sleep report that shows that by following a few steps and correcting a few mistakes that people make unknowingly, indeed at least 60% of the people who experience regular sleepless nights will be - for lack of a better word - cured. I remember when I first read the book, some things were quite common sense, others were things that I knew but completely forgot and yet others gave me that ‘Aha’ moment. I wish I’d thought of it earlier to make it available sooner, but here it is now at least.

It is free, you can download it to your computer as a pdf file and read through it. I’ve made it so that when you download the book, you don’t have to fill in any forms, leave any email address, so your privacy is totally safe. Enjoy reading it and hopefully you will benefit from it, the way so many others have before you. Also if you have friends or family who also suffer from lack of sleep, feel free to give it to them for a few moments of ‘aha’ that might just put them in the 60% of insomniacs cured.

Click on the book cover to download your free sleep report.

One of the most overlooked remedy, because it’s just so in our face, is taking a bath. And I mean taking a hot bath for about 20-30 minutes. The water should be as hot as you normally can handle without becoming uncomfortable. You should take the bath approximately 2 hours before going to bed.

What this does is simply allows your body to rise its temperature, followed by a temperature drop. The reason why you need to take the bath 2 hours before retiring to the bed is exactly because of this rise and drop in the temperature. the drop in body temperature will coincide with your designated bedtime. Taking a bath more than two hours before bedtime may only make it more difficult to fall asleep since body temperature may still be too high.

Another overlooked sleep remedy is wearing loose clothing at home. If you’re dressed smart the whole day at work, or in tight jeans, you need to drop these and wear some loose cotton clothing that is very comfortable no matter what you’re doing around the house.

You’ve probably heard the term ‘laugher is the best medicine’. It’s very true actually. And a very powerful sleep remedy. Now this doesn’t mean that you have to laugh no matter what, just to move your face muscles. You need to add some fun activities (even if it’s to watch an old Charlie Chaplin movie) in your day, allowing your laugh to shine through naturally. The more often, the better. Subscribe to sone ‘a joke a day’ ezines through your email, have fun with friends, but don’t forget to laugh, and laugh from heart. Laugher is indeed one of the best sleep remedies out there, so use it, it’s free and natural

The fight with lack of sleep can really leave you drained and exhausted. The first thing most people do at this time is popping some sleeping pills just to be able to close their eyes for a few hours.

Medical researched has recently shown that is the wrong approach. Yes, for the short term it might work, however if continued, the side-effects are worse. You can pop a pill if your lack of sleep is due to something ‘once off’, like a particular problem that you’re struggling with, and your sleep returns to normal after a few hard nights. However it is easy to discern between true lack of sleep and a sporadic change in your life that warrants that acute insomnia.

If you do notice that your lack of sleep is returning, or not going away, sleeping pills are not the solution here. They mostly treat the symptom, but don’t tackle the cause of your insomnia. So why don’t you, instead, go to the root of the problem, or make some lifestyle changes that will help you regain your sleep the natural way?

Natural sleep remedies are a mix, a combination of dietary, lifestyle and activity changes, which combined with natural, homeopathic remedies, will cure your lack of sleep for good.Today we’re going to talk a bit about lifestyle changes that you can do by yourself, to reduce lack of sleep problems.

• Your bedtime routine - You need to establish a regular sleep routine. Make a habit of going to bed about the same time, and waking up every day at the same time. Also the routine should include basic things like brushing your teeth and reading in the bed for a few minutes. All this recurring routine will help your body adjust and welcome the next night. We are a creature of habit and our body is just the same.
• Exercise - You need to exercise every day, for at least 20 minutes. If you are already doing it, keep at it. If not, please start now. Studies indicate that there is a direct correlation between how much we exercise and how we feel both emotionally and physically by changes in our brain chemistry that occur from regular exercise. Try to increase your physical daily activity during the day. The goal here is to give your body enough stimulation during the day so that you are not restless at night. Some of the things you can do are jogging, walking, practicing yoga and walking meditation.
• Meditation and visualization - Sleep meditation is a proven remedy for lack of sleep. There are countless books and tapes that can help you get started with it, and I have discussed this very easy technique here.
• Reduce stressful, stimulating activities before going to bed. You need to be in a relaxed, calm state
• Listen to relaxing, sleep inducing music and sounds. Researchers have discovered that music and sound are very good sleep inducing resources. They have thus focused their main research in what exact type of music and sound is the best for lack of sleep. And they have come to the conclusion that the best types are the following: Classical music, new age type of music (think reiki music). There are nowadays sound generating machines that can create that perfect sound for inducing sleep. Essentially, the researchers create custom soundtracks for each individual sleeper by studying a person’s brain waves to determine which rhythmic and tonal sound patterns create a condition conducive to sleep in each individual subject. The data is then fed into a computer program developed by the researchers which then generates unique “meditative” music that will create those same brain wave patterns when the individual is trying to sleep later. Studies have shown that this “brain-wave soundtrack” has the potential to alleviate brain conditions that result in anxiety and sleeplessness while not subjecting the patient to dangerous, potentially habit forming chemicals. The brain-wave soundtracks are, as it seems, one of the best and effective tools for easily falling asleep…

Download the Sleep Optimization Tracks, give them a try, you might find yourself pleasantly surprised. There is a reason why medical practitioners are recommending them.

• My favorite herb for insomnia is chamomile. It calms the nerves, soothes the stomach and generally helps with the well-being.
• Valerian, is a very well researched herbal sleep remedy. It is one herb that has been researched and published quite a lot, so there are plenty of information on it. You can find it in capsules at your local pharmacy, just follow the package directions. You can also combine it with other herbs. It is all natural, all healing and all-sedative (what you want!) and non-addictive at all.
• I’m sure you have already heard of kava. This is the national drink of the Fiji ilsnads. It soothens the nerves and helps with the sleep. Some people also use it to enhance their dreams. Note of caution, don’t use it combined with alcohol and if you have problems with your liver, stay away from it as well.

These natural herbs will be definitely enough to help you fall asleep. Try each of them in turn and see which is the one that suits your organism better.
Besides these natural sleeping aids, there are some tips I recommend that you follow, to get the best benefits:

• If you have a tv in your bedroom, take it out.  You do not need distractions in your bedroom besides sleep and…well you know
• Try to read a few pages of a book (a nice book on philosophy or politics or sociology - if you’re not into these at all - should help quite well. You’ll be amazed how sleep inducing a nice boring book can be (I learned all about it while studying in college a few years back)
• Make sure it’s not too hot in the room. During sleep the body temperature will drop, which triggers sleep
• Avoid eating heavy meals before sleep. Also don’t drink alcohol right before going to bed
• Drink herbal teas (as I mentioned above, a nice cup of chamomile tea will do wonders)
• Drink a cup of warm milk, it is said that warm milk induces sleep
• Of course, this is a no-brainer: avoid coffee just before retiring to the bed
• Listen to a meditation tape or CD (guided meditation works fine), there are some meditations specially for helping you fall asleep. I will find some and post them just at the bottom of this article for easy finding
• Don’t go too early to sleep, but also avoid going too late. Going 2 am to sleep will not make you fall asleep immediately. The sleep is already out of your eyes. Everybody has their best time to go to sleep. For example, for me the best time is anything between 11 pm and 1 am. If I go earlier than that, or sometimes during weekends I go a bit later, I turn and turn in the bed and can’t find my place, can’t find my spot, my mind is too active, I just can’t sleep. So try to find your ‘falling asleep times’ and keep at it if possible regularly

And now as promised, some sleep inducing meditation tapes that you can get yourself from Amazon and dream your night away

Trust me, they help, I have these as well, and I am always in the lookout for new ones. You can listen to them even if you don’t have a sleep problem. You will find that sometimes, if you are a person who has nightmares, the meditations will help remove them from your dreams as well and just simply give you a wonderful, relaxed night.

Sleep Easy: Guided Meditation for Deep Rest by Mary Maddux and Richard Maddux

Sleep Solutions - Guided Meditations for Restful Sleep by Roberta Shapiro

Yoga Nidra Meditation CD: Extreme Relaxation of Conscious Deep Sleep by Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati