Can’t Get to Sleep or Stay Asleep?

“Good morning Lord, it’s me. It’s four A.M., I know you’re up, and I can’t sleep, it’s me.”

This is the first stanza of a poem I wrote at (you guessed it) four A.M. one morning. That morning looked like a long string of similar mornings from this angle—I wake up with a full bladder, and while doing the obligatory duty, the whirring begins, the internal lights ignite, the task list opens, my stomach growls, and the adrenaline surges. I try taking long, slow breaths. I think about white wooly sheep. I tell my brain “NO”, but it’s too late. Once my central processing unit ramps up, it refuses to disengage for at least two hours.

Let me tell you that this little routine fosters a healthy prayer life, but along with it, (and with the fuel of a driven lifestyle) blossoms another not-so-healthy by-product called adrenal fatigue and all its accompanying maladies, including flu-like pain, foggy thinking, overwhelming tiredness, and more.

I’m tired of being tired, so I’m doing something about it!

I have found a few natural solutions to sleeplessness. In my experience, it takes a combination of the following remedies to achieve a reasonable average of restful nights. I have increased my average from about 20% to about 85%--measured in nights I get at least seven hours of restful sleep. I’m still shooting for the higher goal of eight or more hours most nights, but I’m happy for even the improvement I’ve seen!

1. Make time for a serious one-on-one conversation with the Lord daily. If you keep your date with God during the daytime hours, you have no reason to be awake at four A.M. “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving;” Col. 4:2 (NAS)

2. Get tested for adrenal fatigue or adrenal depletion. Take an excellent adrenal supplement. I suggest “Adrenal Rebuilder” and “Super Adrenal Stress Formula” from Future Formulations.

3. Take a calcium-magnesium supplement right before bed. I suggest Natural Calm by Peter Gillham.

4. Take either one of the herbs “Hops Flowers” or “Valerian Root”. Be sure to keep both on hand, and switch them off. In other words, take Hops before bed each night for a week, then take Valerian Root the next week. I have found the quality of Nature's Way herbs to be consistent. I pop a couple of these, and wash them down with the dissolved Natural Calm mentioned in point #3. Please note that any time you take supplements or medications in pill or capsule form, you should drink at least 6 to 8 ounces of water (or water-based liquid like tea or dissolved Natural Calm.)

5. Calcium has a calming effect, but don’t drink milk before bed. Something in the digesting of milk is actually counter-productive, and some individuals find that milk encourages bad dreams. (Sounds hokey, but as I have started to pay attention, seems to be valid.)

6. Drink chamomile tea before bed. I have started dissolving my Natural Calm in my chamomile tea. It changes the flavor slightly, but the resulting tea still tastes great!

7. If you are menopausal, study up on hormone therapy, and find a good, informed doctor who uses natural solutions. Consider using natural progesterone under the care of this specialist. Progesterone makes you drowsy while regulating your hormonal glands so that many other systems resume their appropriate functions.

8. Stop! Stop consuming caffeine and sugar. Caffeine is a stimulant and sugar is poison. Read the book Sugar Blues”to learn more about its negative effects.

Here’s to restful sleeping!