Getting a good night’s sleep isn’t just nice. It’s essential.

As The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute notes, getting less than the recommended eight to nine hours per night eventually leads to sleep deficiency and deprivation. Adults with those conditions are at greater risk developing mental, physical, and systemic health issues including slower reaction time, difficulty focusing on tasks, memory lapses, and emotional swings. Studies have even shown that there may be a link between sleep disturbances and certain types of cancer.

If you’ve been struggling to either get to sleep at a decent time, or you’re unable to remain at rest to get into restorative deep sleep and REM states, you may want to consider trying sleep aids. Below are our top suggestions for medicines, natural solutions, technology platforms, and devices to help you sleep better.

Why should you try a sleep aid?

Sleep aids can:

• help you improve your circadian rhythm and bring your mind and body back to balance
• be a good first start toward eliminating sleep disturbances and restoring healthy sleep patterns
• vary in intensities and invasiveness, which allows you to comfortably choose the one(s) most suited for your short-term or long-term sleep problem needs

Recommended Sleep Aids:

Best Essential Oil: Lavender

Aromas and neurological responses have a positive relationship that can provide relief for some of the up to 70 million estimated Americans suffering from.  

Of all the oils to help you sleep there is no doubt that lavender tops all the charts. Lavender has been proven to be beneficial to both the quality and duration of sleep and improve general mental and physical health without the side effects of other sedatives.

Rub a few drops of lavender oil into your palms, cup them together, place in front of your mouth and nose, and inhale deeply. This sends the scent back to your amygdala gland and helps calm the mind. Do this right before bedtime for the best results.

Buy on Amazon: Lavender essential oil

Related Article: 6 Best Essential Oils for Sleeping

Best Sleep Tracker: Fitbit Ionic

Product line up of all Ionic bands

Although you’ve probably heard the brand name Fitbit for a long time, you might not realize that its athletic and fitness trackers can also be excellent wearable sleep tracking devices. The Fitbit Ionic may be one of the more expensive wearables on the market, but it’s also highly rated.

When used for sleep tracking, the Fitbit Ionic measures pulse and heart rate. As the system gets to know your particular health rhythms, it adjusts recommendations on everything from when to workout to when to go to bed. Consider it your full-service body composition and sleep habit assistant.

Buy on Amazon: Fitbit Ionic

Related Article: 6 Best Sleep Trackers

Best Sleep App: Sleep Cycle

Sleep Cycle measures your movements while you sleep and uses its algorithms to decide just the right time to sound your phone’s alarm clock.

Use this app on a regular basis and it will enable you to consistently improve both the quality and duration of your time asleep.

Buy on iTunes: Sleep Cycle

Related Article: 5 Best Sleep Apps

Best OTC Sleeping Pills: Zarbee’s Naturals

You’ve no doubt seen rows of over-the-counter (OTC) sleeping pills when you’ve visited a pharmacy, grocery store, or other retailer.

Each of these products uses some form of ingested pharmaceutical, natural herb, or a combination of both manmade and organic items to help you rest. Plus, they allow you to avoid the challenge of getting prescription sleeping pills from your physician.

The most common OTC sleep pill is melatonin. Melatonin works to regulate circadian rhythms and sleep cycles, herbal remedies use plant extracts to coax the mind into a state of sleep.

If OTC sleeping pills are the choice for you, you should check out Zarbee’s Naturals gummies. Zarbee’s has taken care to ensure that the product contains nothing artificial or habit-forming. The trust the Zarbee’s company has built with consumers makes it a winner. All that you get is a calming effect that comes from natural sources.

Buy on Amazon: Zarbee’s Naturals

Related Article: Best OTC Sleeping Pills

Kick insomnia to the curb with sleep aid intervention

You don’t have to allow your brain and body to make it tough for you to sleep. Even if you’ve suffered from sleep problems for years, you owe it to yourself to try out the latest sleep remedies. Whether you choose sleep trackers, sleep apps, essential oils, or OTC sleeping pills, you can get yourself closer to nights filled with dreams, not frustrations.

Related Article: Kids Need to Move to Improve

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