6 Natural Tips for Better Sleep

Unless you are an advanced yogi who has dispensed with sleep, you need it ... about 7 to 8.5 hours per night according scientists.

Are you getting enough? The odds are you aren't, here are the grim statistics:

• Over 22% (70 million) Americans suffer from sleep disorders, of those 60% have chronic disorders
• Over 2 million children suffer from sleep disorders
• Sleep disorders add approximately $15.9 billion to national health care costs
• Women are twice as likely to have a sleep disorder than men
• There are 84 classifications of sleep disorders

The causes to the vast majority of sleep issues and disorders are stress and/or anxiety and poor dietary and/or lifestyle choices.

The two are rarely mutually exclusive but can be. Before you resign yourself to a medical label, turn to prescription medication, and further complicate things, here are 6 natural and free tips to help you sleep better:

• Avoid drinking stimulants such as wine and coffee (even decaf) after 8p. These make your mind busy and take hours to move out of your system. This goes for deserts that contain caffeine or high amounts of sugar as well. Also avoid all soft drinks at all costs and drink plenty of water.
• Turn the TV and/or computer/internet off at least 30 minutes before going to bed. Again, these make your mind restless.
• Consider joining a gym and making cardio part of your workout. Cardio is a proven way to melt stress and burn off excess emotion.
• Remove unnecessary electronics from your bedroom. Why? Because they give out a frequency that the subtle body finds disturbing. (Do you see TVs in meditation halls?)
• Hold your thumb. This can release anxiety and digestive distress. Hold each thumb for 10 or 15 minutes, mental chatter will decrease.
• (Not free, but must be mentioned) Get treatments from somebody who practices natural medicine. Jin Shin Jyutsu, Ayurveda, and Acupuncture can all be highly effective, though expensive.

If it's legal in your State, you may want to look into a medical marijuana prescription to get you through the night while you work on the deeper causes. An Indica strain will not only induce sleepiness (and fast) it will also increase your body consciousness, thus silencing the mind.

Remember: the inward disturbances that cause sleep disorders can all be treated naturally... You can look at your sleep issues as your body's way of asking for help.

Pay attention to your body. Learn from it and, most importantly, be kind to it.