Trending Sleep Aids

It is rec­om­mend­ed that adults receive sev­en to nine hours of sleep each night. How­ev­er, get­ting the sleep you need to func­tion at your best is not always as easy as it sounds.

Rest­less nights spent toss­ing and turn­ing can be frus­trat­ing in more ways than one, and many peo­ple turn to their local phar­ma­cy in hopes of find­ing a sleep aid that will work for them. In addi­tion to pre­scrip­tion and over-the counter med­ica­tions, there are a vari­ety of trend­ing sleep aids that can help assist you with sleep relief.

DMG Sleep Med­i­cine physi­cian, Dr. Juan Flo­res, rec­om­mends the fol­low­ing tips for get­ting a good night’s rest.

Cre­at­ing a peace­ful bed­room environment

Your sleep­ing envi­ron­ment is one of the most impor­tant fac­tors in help­ing you receive a full night’s rest. This includes any­thing that has an effect on the phys­i­cal space in which you sleep such as light­ing, room tem­per­a­ture, sound and even furniture.

For the bed­side table

For many peo­ple, the time spent try­ing to fall asleep is the biggest bar­ri­er to receiv­ing a qual­i­ty night’s rest. Hec­tic sched­ules and busy days make it dif­fi­cult to pow­er off in time for bed, hin­der­ing your body’s abil­i­ty to get the rest and relax­ation it needs. Tak­ing the time to relax your mind and body will do won­ders for your sleep.

Con­sid­er the fol­low­ing for your bed­side table:

Oil dif­fuser

Oil dif­fusers are devices that emit aro­mather­a­py vapors into the air to induce a calm­ing effect. Using an oil dif­fuser in your bed­room can help pro­mote phys­i­cal and emo­tion­al well-being and may enhance your sleep. Some of the best essen­tial oils for sleep include laven­der, sage, sweet mar­jo­ram and bergamot.

Sound machine

Sound may be dis­tract­ing for those who are light sleep­ers but the qui­eter the room, the more height­ened your hear­ing becomes. A sound machine makes a sooth­ing, white noise that can help dis­tract you from dis­rup­tive nois­es out­side of your room. Sounds such as rustling leaves and rush­ing water­falls can be relax­ing and help pre­pare you for a com­fort­able night of sleep.

Acces­soriz­ing your bed

While it may seem obvi­ous, your bed plays a large role in the qual­i­ty of sleep you receive. Choos­ing the right mat­tress, pil­lows and blan­kets not only makes for a cozy bed, but it can decrease stress and anx­i­ety while improv­ing your over­all qual­i­ty of sleep.

Con­sid­er dress­ing your bed with the following:

Ther­a­peu­tic mat­tress & pillows

A night spent toss­ing and turn­ing could be the result of a poor mat­tress. Orig­i­nal­ly cre­at­ed for hos­pi­tal use, ther­a­peu­tic mat­tress­es can help reduce pres­sure points, reg­u­late tem­per­a­ture, pre­vent bed sores and allow bet­ter cir­cu­la­tion to help you fall (and stay) asleep. Ther­a­peu­tic mat­tress­es also come in a vari­ety of forms includ­ing air, foam, water and gel.

Sim­i­lar to the ben­e­fits pro­vid­ed by a ther­a­peu­tic mat­tress, ther­a­peu­tic pil­lows aid in com­fort and pos­ture by pro­vid­ing sup­port for your head, neck and upper back. This is accom­plished through inden­ta­tions or grooves in the pil­low that mim­ic the curves of your body. By help­ing achieve pos­tur­al align­ment, ther­a­peu­tic pil­lows can ease ten­sion in the mus­cles, joints and nerves.

Com­pres­sion blanket

Oth­er­wise known as weight­ed blan­kets, com­pres­sion blan­kets are heavy blan­kets that can weigh up to 15 pounds. Often filled with poly pel­lets, discs, plas­tic beads or glass, com­pres­sion blan­kets offer numer­ous ben­e­fits for your sleep. For instance, the heavy com­pres­sion you expe­ri­ence from the blan­ket can help com­bat stress, while boost­ing mela­tonin and sero­tonin lev­els that are crit­i­cal to rest­ful sleep and relaxation.

Med­ica­tions & dietary supplements

Over-the-counter sleep aids

If sleep acces­sories and relax­ation tech­niques aren’t suf­fi­cient in induc­ing a good night’s sleep, you may con­sid­er sleep medication.

While you’ll need to speak with your physi­cian to receive pre­scrip­tion med­ica­tion, there are var­i­ous over-the-counter sleep aids made avail­able to you, including:

• ZzzQuil
• Mela­tonin
• Aleve PM
• Valer­ian

It is impor­tant to dis­cuss any over-the-counter sleep med­ica­tions that you plan on tak­ing with your sleep med­i­cine physi­cian. Also, be sure to read the direc­tions on the med­ica­tion care­ful­ly before use and take time to under­stand the pos­si­ble side effects.

Vit­a­mins & minerals

If you pre­fer nat­ur­al alter­na­tives to med­ica­tion, con­sid­er sup­ple­ment­ing your diet with the fol­low­ing vit­a­mins and minerals:

• Vit­a­min D
• Cal­ci­um
• Mag­ne­sium
• Iron
• Chamomile tea
• B vit­a­mins

Be sure to speak with your sleep med­i­cine physi­cian before tak­ing vit­a­mins and min­er­als to help deter­mine what is best for you.

The qual­i­ty and quan­ti­ty of your sleep play a large role in deter­min­ing your over­all health. If you have dif­fi­cul­ties sleep­ing you don’t have to accept defeat. When paired with healthy life prac­tices and a reg­u­lar sleep rou­tine, sleep aids can pro­vide you with the rest you need to feel your best. Learn more about what you can do to achieve a bet­ter night’s rest by sched­ul­ing an appoint­ment with our sleep med­i­cine physi­cians online, or by call­ing your pre­ferred location.