If you have trouble sleeping and often wake up tired you’ve probably had trouble falling or staying asleep or your sleep quality has been low for a while. We sleep for approximately 33% of our life and we need high quality sleep to wake up rejuvenated and deal with the tasks and stressors in life.

8 Hours a night is the recommended amount of time we sleep as adults. If we get less than 8 hours of sleep our body may not operate as effectively. There are two measures of sleep that you have to take into account, sleep time (hours) and sleep quality (how deep you sleep) and if you get more sleep (time) yet your sleep quality is still low then you will wake up feeling groggy. If you sleep a shorter period of time but have high quality, deep, rejuvenating sleep with proper hormone and sleep cycling you will wake up feeling rested. Ideally you’d like to get your body to sleep for an adequate amount of time, fall asleep quickly, sleep deeply and wake up feeling rested.

This isn’t always the case though. The quantity of sleep that you receive is up to you. You can go to bed earlier and get more sleep that way. Certain factors contribute to the lack of high quality sleep though and you have to make changes to improve the quality of your sleep.

3 Factors That Causes Low Quality Sleep:

1. Using Technology Before Sleep:

   By being on your computer, tablet, phone or simply watching tv before sleep you are disrupting your bodies natural circadian rhythm which causes your serotonin and melatonin production to offset causing a decrease in sleep quality.

2. Eating Before Sleep:

   Your body needs a good 3 hours (or more) to properly digest food. Going to bed on a stomach full of food (even just a little food) will cause your body to use resources to digest that food instead of using those same resources to give you high quality rejuvenating sleep. Eat early in the evening (4-5 p.m.) and avoid food for the rest of the night.

3. Late Night Stimuli:

   There are quite a few forms of late night stimuli that can alter your circadian rhythm, engage your brain and thought processes, or engage your body and energy production late at night. You want to avoid these activities. You should do your best to avoid bright lights at night, use himalayan salt lamps and get to bed before 10 p.m. If you work late at night and that stimulates ideas and more brain activity then avoid working at night. Working out at night may also be harmful. You could induce your body to wake up and be active and cause your body stress before rest. Late night sex may also be an issue. If sex causes you to feel drained (or energized) then it can decrease your sleep quality either way. Late night caffeine, sugar, or anything stimulating externally or internally will decrease sleep quality. The later the night becomes the more you want to calm your mind and body and move into rest.

Once you remove factors that may reduce sleep quality you can use this 2-step recipe to your advantage to support your body and certain specific organs to rest, relax and rejuvenate during a deep sleep, high quality night’s rest.

This simple, two-ingredient recipe is your key to getting a great night’s sleep. It simply gives your body the fuel it needs to sleep effectively. It will help your body relax and process stress from the day.

Here’s What You Need:

1. 5 teaspoons of organic raw honey
2. 1 teaspoon of pink Himalayan sea salt

Mix these two ingredients together and store it in a glass jar. You can make as much or as little as you want, but do your best to keep a 5:1 ratio as this is what works best.

Take a little bit of this mixture (one spoonful or so) and place this under your tongue every night before you go to sleep and let it dissolve naturally. Himalayan Salt contains more than 84 minerals and trace minerals including magnesium which are crucial for relaxation, reducing stress and high sleep quality. Raw honey contains glucose which supports your liver in delivering recovery functions to the cells and body as a whole. Taking a spoonful of raw honey before sleep supplies your liver with glycogen storage when supports your liver in detoxification, circulation, hormone regulation and other functions to restore your body during rest. Having adequate levels of glycogen stored in the liver prevents the body from producing stress hormones to repair and recover. This means that your body has fuel to recover instead of be in a state of stress while sleeping to rejuvenate more deeply. Additionally raw honey also contributes to melatonin being released in the brain which is an important sleep hormone for high quality sleep.

Using raw honey and himalayan salt together give your body essential minerals for relaxation and cell regulation, improve liver function to restore and recover your body fully. Your body will use the honey and minerals to release melatonin, a sleep hormone, as well as to repair fully without your body needing to use stress hormones to get the job done.  Try it out and let us know how it helped you!

Other natural sleep aids worth including or trying separately:

1. Natural Calm (magnesium supplement)
2. Valerian Root (strong natural relaxant)
3. Re-Timer Circadian Rhythm Glasses (read about them & watch a video here)

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