Amy's Sleep Helpers List

Amy’s Sleep Helpers List

Being a high-wired person, I basically have to wrestle myself to sleep. Nights are easier if I’ve done a lot of physical exertion.

But just going to sleep is not enough. You’ve got to achieve deep sleep and REM sleep. Alcohol messes with that, and for me so does CBD. If you have an Apple Watch or similar device, it has a built-in sleep monitor. But a sleep app like AutoSleep makes the data much easier to read. With these, I’ve been able to hone what works best for healthy sleep.

This is a list of relatively quick fixes I’ve made up for my insomniac pals.

MUSIC

A lot of sleep music is pablum, just a step above white noise. Take it a big step deeper with science.

Brain Wave Music

Binaural beat music has a tone embedded in it that is slightly different in each ear. The brain is compelled to even those tones out. This syncs up brainwaves and generally leads to calmness. After a while, it gets Pavlovian; I rarely get through more than a few minutes now.

Plenty of it free or nearly so around. Look for terms like binaural beats and Hemi-Sync associated with calming or sleep. The titles often have hz (hertz) in them. Look for in the 400s or lower. Theta waves are calming, delta waves will knock you right out, so I use theta to ease me into sleepiness and delta to put me to sleep.

Heart-Settling Music

Developed to put babies to sleep. But not lullabies. Heart-centered instrumental music based on a heartbeat rhythm works more on the body than the brain, but is very effective. My favorite is Pulse: Music for Exploration by Rusted Root’s Jim Donovan.

SLEEP STORIES

I’m not a big fan of guided meditations for sleep like the Calm app is famed for. Weird and controlling. My mind can race while listening to music or white noise. Sleep stories give your busy brain just enough to distract you. I am a convert to Calm’s sleep stories, though other apps and podcasts offer them, sometimes for free with an upfront ad.

I prefer sleep stories that relate a trip to nature, rather than fiction or poetry. At Calm, Erik Braa (my fave!), Chike Okonkwo, Alan Sklar, and Timothy White have deep, rich voices that take you to remote and exotic locales. Ben Cura, David Duclos, and Ramon Tikaram have soft, sexy, European voices and often go to quiet, cosmopolitan places. Jerome Flynn prefers ocean environments.

But there are stars at Calm. Stephen Fry tells of the lavender fields of France. Laura Dern and Matthew McConaughey relate childhood adventures of wonder. Cillian Murphy’s train trip through Ireland is rich in nature and literature. Harry Styles does his story entirely in prose.

More sleep story recommendations from friends:

Nothing Much Happens: “She’s into the kind of natural, outdoorsy, crafty things that you and I both enjoy. She reads each story twice – exactly the same words – but at a slightly more relaxed, slower pace. I especially love how she explains things like sleep hygiene and mental state management, at the beginning of the stories.” Also a podcast.
Sleepy Scientist: You can actually learn things… if you can stay awake. Sonorous British accent done to wallpaper imagery.
Yogi Bryan: Quite the character appealing to younger generations. Influenced by Neuro Linguistic Programming and yoga. Options for the voice embedded with binaural beats that aid sleep.

SUPPLEMENTS

Herbs, Amino Acids, and Melatonin:

Soooo many herbal blends for sleep. It gets confusing. This general guide may help. Look for botanicals mixed with amino acids and maybe some melatonin.

Gummies, drinks, and drops take 15 minutes or so, but you’ll need to take them before nighttime teeth brushing because of the sweeteners.

Botanical capsules are best as concentrated liquids in thick gel caps like Gaia Herbs to get past the stomach and be released in the intestines. Give capsules 30 to 40 minutes to take effect, so pop a few and have some herbal tea.

Melatonin is a hormone triggered by darkness and made by the brain to regulate sleep. Take only occasionally, keep to 5 mg or less. Can be hard to wake up from. Take when in a dark room for best effect, then listen to music or sleep stories, or read.

Light, easy, relaxing— set you up for sleep

California poppy
GABA
L-Theanine — amino acid that enhances brain chemicals like dopamine, GABA, and serotonin
lemon balm
passionflower
skullcap – calms nerves
vervain – calms nerves
5-htp — naturally occurring amino acid that is a precursor to serotonin

Heavy, soporific — certainly put you to sleep, but can be hard to wake in the morning

kava kava – hypnotic, works on body, caution with heart and liver issues, bitter
L-Tryptophan — an essential amino acid that the body uses to create melatonin and serotonin
valerian — herbal valium, smells awful

Recommended Brands

Resteva Sleep Extra Strength by Results RNA.
- My fave. Love it because unlike most other chewies, drops, and such that are easy to take while in bed, Resteva is like water — no sugar, sticky, no taste. Being sublingual, goes to work in under 15 minutes
SleepTides by Biotics
- Loving this one. A non-herbal approach using bioactive plant peptides derived from brown rice. Surprisingly effective within 30 minutes.
Sleep Tonight Drops by Enzymatic Therapy
- Drop like a rock within 10 to 20 min. Botanicals added allow the melatonin dose to be lowered.
Sleep Gummies or Sound Sleep by Gaia Herbs
- More quickly acting than most capsules. Sound Sleep is based on valerian which will keep you asleep for a longtime, but can make you groggy the next day. The gummies are good when it’s muscle pain keeping you awake.
Sleep or Stress gummies by Oly
- Sleep is a botanical gummy with herbs, L-theanine, and just a touch of melatonin, much like the drops above. Botanicals-only Stress is terrific earlier in the evening while mellowing out.
Fast DIssolve Sleep lozange by Olly
- Sublingual 5 mg melatonin buffered by lemon balm. Goes to work very fast.

Minerals:

Magnesium is famed for relaxation. But wow, it sure can give you the trots. Try magnesium glycinate, malate, or maybe taurate. Take blended with some calcium or potassium for best effect. But for a quick hit, go for magnesium carbonate; my face is Calm with L-theanine. Powders, which usually have little to no taste, make it easy to adjust your dose. Begin with a smaller dose and work up.

The sure way to do magnesium is in a bath soak since it gets to tight muscles and tension. Epsom salts are magnesium. Take it to a deeper level with bath salts that include Dead Sea salts, which have the added punch of lithium.

Calm by Natural Vitality
- A variety of drinks with magnesium that go to work fast.

TEAS

Yeah, chamomile’s OK, but it takes more than that to lull me to sleep. See the sleep herbs in the above list for more ideas and cautions.

Lady Cora’s Evening Tea by Republic of Tea
- Foolproof. Seriously, if it can loosen up Lady Cora, it’ll do you. Lemon balm (mellow nervine), linden flower, orange blossoms, chamomile, lavender flower, skullcap (powerful nervine), passion flower (another powerful nervine) and just a touch of valerian root (what valium is based on).
Vervain or verbena
- The best vervain (powerful nervine) comes from Europe, where it’s just called vervain. Ultra mellow but slightly odd taste.
Linden flower
- Sweet, mild taste, makes happiness.

AROMAS

Aromas can be deeply personal. Lavender makes many relaxed, but peps me up. I find clary sage, best as an essential oil, to be foofproof and even a little trippy. Same with benzoin and myrrh, which must be burned for best effect.

Can’t stand the taste of beer, but the smell of hops soothes me. I mix it with chamomile and lemon balm for a bedside potpourri that I fondle to release the aroma. I also keep amber chunks in a small wooden box with a lid to soothe, especially when I get up in the middle of the night.

For a complete rundown of the effect of aromas on the brain, try the herbal glossary in my inexpensive book, Holy Smokes.

Not included in Holy Smokes because it’s non-burnable is dill, which comes from the Old Norse word dylla or Saxon dillan, meaning to lull, soothe, or calm. Keep fresh dill sprigs in water next to your bed, or makes some dilly pillows with dried dill, but they don’t remain effective for long.