What Are the Best Natural Remedies to Treat Insomnia?

You’re lying awake night after night, but you don’t want to pop a pill — we get that. Either you’re afraid of side effects, or you just don’t like that next-day foggy feeling that comes with some sleep aids. Here are eight alternative, natural remedies that might help.

Meditation

Various techniques for calming the mind before sleep have been shown to be effective in easing sleep issues. A recent study published in JAMA comparing two groups of adults found that those who learned mindfulness meditation slept better than the group that simply followed good sleep-hygiene tips.

Aromatherapy

If a warm bath an hour or more before bed has a soothing effect, that same bath with a few drops of a calming essential oil may be even more relaxing. Some scents to try: true bergamot, sandalwood, chamomile and lavender. Dab another drop on your wrists or behind your ears after you dry off.

Exercise

Most people know firsthand how working out (just not too close to bedtime) can help them sleep by burning off anxiety and stress. Exercise is also believed to stimulate longer periods of deep-stage rest. A study in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine took a closer look at the connection between exercise and sleep and found that a group of insomnia sufferers who exercised regularly for 16 weeks showed a “significant improvement across several measures of sleep, including duration and quality,” not to mention their better mood and quality of life. But you’ve got to stick with it. The benefits may not be seen immediately.

Herbal Remedies

Many botanicals, such as valerian, lemon balm, chamomile and kava kava, are believed to promote sleep. While they are endorsed by many credentialed alternative medicine practitioners, and may very well work, you’ll want to tread carefully, as herbal supplements are not subject to FDA testing. Side effects and long-term effects are not always known.

Hypnosis

Can you be hypnotized into experiencing deeper, better-quality sleep? One recent Swiss study seems to point that way. In the research, hypnosis increased deep sleep on average by 80 percent and time spent awake was cut by 67 percent. Note: The women in the study who fared best were deemed, by prior testing, to be “suggestible” to hypnosis. In this case, the hypnosis was via tapes listened to before bed.

Light Therapy

One cause of insomnia is a body clock that’s out of whack. Some people have improved their sleep with light therapy, where you sit in front of a special light box that mimics the wavelength and strength of outdoor light for a proscribed amount of time each day. It’s thought that exposure to the light resets and/or realigns your circadian rhythm.

Acupuncture

This traditional Chinese medicine technique has been used for many years to treat sleeplessness. With acupuncture, fine needles are inserted into specific points on the body that lie along meridians, or energy pathways, to re-balance the flow of energy and eliminate the blockages that are allegedly causing problems. A review of studies involving acupuncture and insomnia — published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine — gave the treatment a gold star for overall effectiveness.

Magnesium

This mineral has been found to promote deeper sleep. A 2012 study in the Journal of Medical Research Sciences found that taking a magnesium supplement helped older adults get better-quality sleep, with longer sleep times. It also appears that a deficiency in magnesium and calcium may trigger nighttime wakings. Magnesium is found naturally in dark leafy greens, nuts and seeds, avocados, bananas and fish; it can also be taken as a nutritional supplement.

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Do herbal medicines improve our health?

Herbal medicines are used by about a quarter of adults in the UK, the market is worth at least £485m, and they have a powerful advocate in Prince Charles. In one of his recently published “black spider” letters, sent to Tony Blair in 2005, the Prince urged a delay implementing EU restrictions on herbal medicines: “I think we both agreed this was using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.” But concerns over safety, standardisation, interactions with other drugs, as well as extravagant claims and lack of evidence for efficacy have all led to attempts to regulate herbal medicine and its practitioners.

Edzard Ernst, emeritus professor of complementary medicine at Exeter University, says they should be judged in the same way as conventional ones: “If a therapy demonstrably generates more good than harm, it should be considered for routine use.” The problem is that, without good clinical trials, it is hard to say whether a medicine does work – and trials are expensive, time-consuming and hard to organise, especially for small manufacturers.

Since 2011, products have to be registered with the Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and granted a traditional herbal registration (THR) before going on sale. The MHRA usually requires drugs to be of sufficient quality, safety and effectiveness but, in the case of herbal medicines, it recognised the difficulty in providing evidence of effectiveness and asked only for proof of quality and safety and patient information. Reassuringly, registration means that hundreds of potentially dangerous products have been banned.

However, herbal practitioners don’t need a licence to supply medicines that they create on their own premises following one-to-one consultations, as long as they don’t contain banned substances. Practitioners may voluntarily sign up to one of a number of organisations, but these have no clout. Even if the organisation kicks them off its list for bad practice, there is nothing to stop them setting up in the high street.

So, on the plus side, over-the-counter herbal medicines in the UK are now safe and available in a fixed dose. But is there evidence that any of them work?
Depression

Each year, 1.5m packs of St John’s wort (Hypericum extract) are sold in the UK. Trials suggest it is more effective than placebo, and as effective as prescribed antidepressant drugs such as Prozac in mild-to-moderate depression. Though generally safe, it can interact with other drugs such as the contraceptive pill. It isn’t recommended for children, or women who are pregnant or breastfeeding because of a lack of high-quality studies.

Cancer

Justin Stebbing, professor of cancer medicine at Imperial College, London, says that many people turn to herbal medicine and complementary therapies when they feel shortchanged by conventional medicine.

“We need to look at a whole jigsaw of options in treating cancer – diet, anti-inflammatory drugs and others – to see how it fits in with chemotherapy. Many drugs used to treat cancer are derived from plants, such as taxol from yew trees and vincristine from periwinkle.” The herb milk thistle may have liver-protective effects that can be useful in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. “It’s definitely worthy of further study,” he says.
Menopause

Black cohosh and red clover are often used to reduce menopausal hot flushes. Standardised formulations are safe but there is no evidence that they are more effective than placebo. One small study showed improvement in libido and hot flushes in 15 women given nutrition and lifestyle advice and a tailor-made herbal prescription, compared with a control group.

Diabetes

Many people with diabetes turn to natural herbs and spices to lower blood sugar, including aloe vera, bilberry extract, bitter melon, ginger, cinnamon and okra. The risks are that either they don’t work, resulting in uncontrolled diabetes, or they may work well, but in an erratic way, causing low blood sugar levels, especially when taken with conventional sugar-lowering drugs such as insulin.

Ayurvedic physicians use a mixture of herbs and lifestyle advice. A Cochrane collaboration review of seven trials of Ayurvedic medicines used to treat diabetes found some positive results and no serious side-effects, but said no firm conclusions could be drawn. Potentially harmful levels of metals, including lead, mercury and arsenic, have been found in up to a fifth of Ayurvedic products bought online.
Asthma

Some herbal remedies may be effective in treating asthma. An analysis of 17 randomised controlled trials into the use of herbal preparations in asthma (Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine) found a significant improvement in more than half of the trials. The herbs included Tylophora indica, marijuana and dried leaf extract among others, though the analysis couldn’t identify which was effective. However, many herbs interact with conventional treatment. St John’s wort makes the asthma-relieving drug aminophylline less effective, so symptoms may get worse. Herbalists often stock royal jelly, made by bees, which is marketed for use in asthma, among other conditions. But Asthma UK strongly recommends that people with asthma and allergies don’t take it as there have been reports of severe, and occasionally fatal, asthma and allergic attacks.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

Many people with IBS turn to herbal medicines to help control symptoms of diarrhoea, bloating and abdominal cramps. Traditional Chinese medicine uses formulas including rhubarb, tangerine, cardamom and liquorice and five or more herbs. Individual herbs can be used for specific symptoms; UK doctors prescribe peppermint oil capsules for bloating and cramps in IBS, even though evidence is limited. Ginger is widely believed to help nausea, with some evidence that it is better than placebo in morning sickness and sea-sickness though not necessarily in IBS. Iberogast is a combination of nine herbs and plant extracts, and appears to be effective in treating symptoms of indigestion and IBS with minimal side-effects.

Alarmism About Herbal Supplements

As I’ve written many times before, the growing popularity of alternative medicine concerns me because I think most people who use these alternatives reject modern medicine and the many life-saving treatments doctors proscribe. The acceptance of alt medicine often goes hand in hand the complete rejection of modern medicine (see this horrifying case as an example), the anti-vaccination movement, belief in “essential oils” as treatments for serious diseases, and other ludicrous theories on health and healing.

Yet, I’m also concerned about knee jerk alarmism about some alternative remedies. I think too often, people who defend science and traditional medicine can be dismissive of treatments that can augment (not preplace) pharmaceuticals and more traditional treatments.

For instance, consider recent reaction to an herbal supplement Kratom, which is marketed as a pain reliever. Typically it’s used by people who want relief from pain but who don’t want to use narcotics or traditional pain relievers like Tylenol and Advil. I have no idea if this stuff works but I do know that the placebo effect—where those given sugar pills are told they’re getting an active medication and report feeling better—is real and gives some people the psychological reaction that they’re pain is subsiding. The mind is extremely powerful so I see no harm in people believing an herbal remedy has helped.

Of course, alarmists are freaking out because this herbal medication can be found in small-sized drinks (similar to 5-Hour Energy drinks) at convenience stores and is marketed as a “feel good” shot, which, according to some that have complained about the product, could attract young children.

This is where the alarmists lose me. I simply don’t understand why people don’t see it as a parent’s responsibility to keep their kids from drinking things that aren’t good for them instead of the 16-year old dude behind the counter at the drug store. There are many things sold at the convenience store I’d rather my kids not consume. Candy and soda and high-fat snacks, cigarettes, wine, beer, Lysol, bleach, Slurpee’s, Maxim magazine. But you know what? I know it’s my job to tell them “hands off!” not the guy making seven bucks an hour behind the counter.

Naturally, certain state legislatures think I’m an idiot who can’t control my kids, so there’s a movement afoot to ban these herbal supplements.

At some point, it sure would be nice if elected officials would remember what they’re elected to do: Keep criminals off the street, be good stewards of taxpayer dollars, and leave adults and parents the hell alone to make decisions for themselves and their families.

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