Natural Sleep Remedy

If people truly understood the power of sleep and its ability to affect all aspects of your life and health, then maybe more people would sit up and take notice.

Within the brain, sleep enriches our ability to learn, memorise and make logical decisions. It recalibrates our emotions, restocks our immune system, fine tunes our metabolism, and regulates our appetite. We literally heal while we sleep.

Sleep is one of the most important aspects of our life, defining our wellness and longevity. Cellular ageing is accelerated due to lack of sleep and if there is one reason to get more shut eye, it would be the promise of a long, healthy life.

Sleep is one of the most researched subjects and yet one of the least understood. What we do know, is the important role sleep has in your physical health, healing and repairing of your heart and blood vessels. Ongoing sleep deficiency is linked to increased risk of heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke.

On a mental/emotional level, sleep is an essential function that allows your mind to recharge. We all understand that going without sleep for too long can make us feel terrible, and that getting a good night’s sleep can make us feel ready to take on the world. There isn’t a better feeling than waking refreshed from a deep, restful sleep. So why is that so many people are laying awake staring at the stars? This is especially true for menopausal women who cite disturbed sleep as one of the most frustrating symptoms in their menopausal journey.

There are many reasons why people don’t sleep, and sensory overload might be part of the problem. We live in a digital age surrounded by technology and overwhelmed by the never-ending amount of information, emails, social media, messages, and television that envelopes our daily lives. We are programmed to be always switched ‘on’ and exposed to large, even dangerous amounts of ‘blue light’ also called HEV light or ‘high energy visible’ light, most known for its emittance from screens, such as laptops, tablets, phones and tv’s. HEV is also emitted by fluorescent lighting which most people work under for long periods of time.

Many studies have now shown that these devices can interfere with sleep by suppressing the production of melatonin, a natural hormone released in the evening to help you feel tired and ready for sleep. The organ in our body that produces and secretes this melatonin is the pineal gland, a pea sized conical mass of tissue behind the third ventricle of the brain, whose main function is to receive and convey information about the current light-dark cycle from the environment. This is why it is so important to sleep in a darkened room because it sends signals to the pineal gland that it is time for sleep. Shift workers are particularly affected by a disruption to their circadian rhythm and can suffer with illnesses directly related to sleep deprivation.

The pineal gland was commonly dubbed the ‘third eye’ and once described as the ‘seat of the soul’. Mystic and esoteric spiritual traditions suggest it serves as a metaphysical connection between the physical and spiritual worlds. Some people believe that by overexposure to ‘blue light’ and environmental toxins like pesticides, our pineal gland is damaged and begins to calcify, further reducing its capacity to produce and secrete melatonin.

Impaired melatonin production and the cumulative long-term effects of sleep loss and sleep disorders have been associated with a wide range of health consequences including an increased risk of hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, heart attack and stroke.

So, how much sleep do you need to maintain good health and function at your best? National sleep guidelines advise that healthy adults need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep, but how do we begin to reprogram our circadian clock and ensure we get the shut eye we need?

Start by making sleep a priority in your schedule, and that means making sure your work and social activities don’t trade off with sleep. Cutting sleep hours doesn’t pay off because sleep is essential to being at your best mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Begin by creating a bedroom setting that encourages good sleep habits, like block out curtains, a quality mattress, disconnecting from electronic devices at least an hour before bed, reducing alcohol and caffeine, a bubble bath, or invest in sleep meditation recordings. A bedtime ritual that becomes a necessary habit will be the basis for your new sleep routine.

When environmental circumstances are addressed and you still find that sleep eludes you, supplements may be another tool in the toolbox to help you drift off to dreamland.

Meno Sleep has been formulated with three specific herbs at therapeutic levels to not only help you get to sleep, but also stay asleep longer. And it’s not just for menopause, Meno Sleep can benefit everyone who is searching for deep sleep satisfaction.

Lemon Balm is a citrus scented herb from the mint family. Its botanical name is Melissa Officinalis with flowers that are filled with nectar and attract honeybees. Melissa is actually the Greek word for honeybee, and they clearly know what’s good for them. With records that date back to 14^th century Europe, Lemon Balm was well regarded as the herb for all complaints from a disordered state of the nervous system. Its wide range of beneficial effects include stress relief, anxiety, sleep, mood, and cognitive function support, but most notably it has a long history of use for its relaxation and sleep enhancing properties.

California Poppy contains compounds that have long been used as a sedative, hypnotic, and analgesic by the Native American tribes of California. It remains widely popular among herbal practitioners today as a reliable treatment for sleep disorders, over excitement, muscle spasms and sleeplessness. This much-loved herb is also a traditional remedy for anxiety-induced nervous indigestion, another unwelcome symptom that can have a profound disruption to sleep patterns.

Chinese Dates or Zizyphus Jujube is regarded as the Chinese medicinal herb that calms the mind and relieves mental tension. Native to southern Asia, the Chinese Date or red date has become popular around the world to improve sleep and decrease anxiety. It is known to herbalists as one of the key herbs to harmonise or balance the hormones and restore one’s ‘qi’ or ‘life force’ because it supports the liver and heart organ systems as a blood tonic.   As a whole food, the red date is sweet and soft and contains many beneficial vitamins, but it is the seed of fruit which contains the sleep promoting properties we crave.

Nature has an abundance of answers to modern day problems. The combination of plant-based ingredients in Meno Sleep allows mother nature to give your body what it needs to restore calm and induce a deep night’s sleep. Initially designed by women for menopausal women, we quickly realised that everyone could benefit from the restorative powers harnessed in Meno Sleep.  Sweet dreams!