By Taylor Smith

Sleep is vital for overall health, but elusive for many. Whether you’re a parent under stress or you’ve become reliant on prescription sleep aids like Lunesta or Ambien, here are some non-habit forming methods for improving overall sleep quality and duration.

Magnesium Glycinate Before Bed

Magnesium is an essential mineral that over 70 percent of the population is deficient in. Many deficiencies are caused by diet or as a side effect of other prescription medication use. But a simple supplement can reverse a deficiency. Taking Magnesium Glycinate before bed helps to improve muscle, brain. and nervous system function. It also acts as a natural relaxant and helps to prepare the body for bed.

Avoid Blue Light

Almost all computers, tablets, and smartphones emit a blue wavelength light that affects your suprachiastmatic nucleaus (SCN), a pin-sized structure that controls your sleep cycle and contributes to the body’s ability to produce adequate melatonin. The SCN also contains 20,000 neurons which play a further role in sleep quality. If you must work on your phone or computer before bedtime, consider purchasing the F.lux app (https://justgetflux.com), which causes the light emitting from your device to be more blue/black dominant in the morning red dominant in the evening. This light technology thus mimics the effects of sunrise and sundown, reducing your exposure to blue light at bedtime. However, do understand that screen time can seriously affect sleep and more importantly eye health. Issues like myopia can develop as a result of visual stress. Yes, there are medical remedies like vison correction lenses and eye drops to treat myopia. For instance, Atropine eye drops can significantly slow the progression of myopia as it develops in children. However, it is always better to avoid or reduce unnecessary screen time whenever possible.

Look at Your Caffeine Consumption

Let’s face it – although most people lovetheir coffee, some are highly sensitive. Many functional nutritionists (nutritionists who evaluate specific health concerns based on an all-encompassing look at lifestyle, medical history, genetic makeup, and habits) argue that those individuals with a genetic variant of an enzyme called CYP1A2 naturally metabolize caffeine more slowly, meaning that your mid-morning cup (or two) of coffee stays with you well through the late afternoon and early evening. Research suggests that even one additional serving of caffeine per day can disrupt late evening sleep cycles. For example, did you know that a single serving of dark chocolate contains up to 30 mg of caffeine? Those with heart-related concerns may also benefit from reducing caffeine intake, as caffeine consumption can put you at a greater risk of heart attack (https://bit.ly/2GJRQug). Other caffeine culprits include diet sodas, iced teas, and pain relievers (two Excedrin Migraine tablets contain 130 mg of caffeine).

Address Your Underlying Anxiety Issues Head On

“In 2011, over 74 million prescriptions were written for Xanax and Valium,” a fact that makes obvious the problem of mental health-related anxiety issues in modern-day America (https://bit.ly/2VcPLds). Not only are drugs like Xanax, Valium, and Klonopin highly addictive, they also wreak havoc on a person’s sleep cycle. Even after you remove prescription anti-anxiety drugs, the likelihood is that your chronic anxiety issues will remain along with your unhealthy sleep habits. Therapy and meditation are both effective tools for addressing serious anxiety issues.

Taking recreational medications like cannabis can also help with anxiety issues. You can research to learn more about the medical benefits of cannabis. That said, upon doing thorough research, you would find that cannabis can trigger changes in blood flow to regions in the brain linked with feelings of anxiety. However, to achieve the desired outcome, you would have to consume high THC or high CBD cannabis products. For instance, you can opt for Premium Pure Distillate – Delta-9 (https://wccannabis.co/product/premium-pure-distillate-delta-9/), which happens to be high in THC and can prove to be quite effective for anxiety.

Besides this, nutrition can also play a promising role (if you reduce alcohol intake, get adequate exercise every day, and limit screen time before bed). Working with a therapist or a functional nutritionist may enable you to tackle your anxiety issues head-on, while also developing tools for improving sleep quality over time. To help you sleep better naturally, you could consider consulting with a sleep expert or a somnologist.

In short, peeling back the layers of the insomnia onion may lead some of those suffering to discover underlying health issues that they didn’t know they had. Being aware is half the battle. Take the necessary step at an early stage before it progresses into a major sleep disorder.