Insomnia / Sleeplessness Remedies

Insomnia Definition:

Insomnia or sleeplessness is characterized by lack of sleep, difficulty in sleeping and sleeping for a normal duration of seven to eight hours, at night.

Insomnia Causes:

• Psychological tensions, emotional disturbances and depression.
• Diseases caused by severe damage to any of the vital organs (liver and heart) can alter sleep patterns, causing either disturbed sleep or reversal of sleep (sleeping during the day and keeping awake at night).
• Lack of proper diet and irregular food habits.

Insomnia Symptoms:

• Inability to fall asleep, waking up in the early hours of morning despite sleeping late at night and lack of sound sleep.
• Increased irritability, psychological tension and lack of enthusiasm.
• A feeling of lethargy, loss of appetite and hyperacidity.

Do’s & Don’t :

• Include milk, pure ghee and sugar in meals.
• Take a glass of hot milk with a pinch of pure ghee and sugar, at bedtime.
• Include black grams, wheat, rice, meat and fish in the daily diet.

Insomnia Suggestions:

• Medicated ghee (ghee medicated with Asparagus recemosus (Shatavari) and Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha), in a 10-gm dosage, at bedtime.
• Alternately, a cold infusion of herbs likes sweet flag (Vacha) and Centella asiatica (Brahmi) in a 30-ml dosage, at bedtime.
• Massage Castor oil over the scalp and on the soles of the feet (it induces sleep!).
• Use 2-3 nasal drops of medicated oils (Anu Taila) in each nostril, daily, for chronic insomnia.

Herbs Can Be Used :

• A decoction of lettuce seeds, in a 20-ml dosage, at bedtime.
• A decoction of milk with aniseed and honey, in a 30-ml dosage, at bedtime.