Chamomile tea

Seems like we all heard about that one: just drink herbal tea before bed to sleep better. Apart from chamomile, I’ve found online mentions of thyme and mint as common sleep remedies, but I had chamomile handy, so I gave that a go. For me, it only seems to kind of work when my evening is already calm, there is no stress, and I am not worried about the coming day – in other words, not a very likely scenario. But I don’t mind the taste and if it is indeed soothing, then I am on board.

AI review: surprisingly, there is evidence that suggests chamomile does improve sleep in individuals with sleep disorders – with modest and varying results (which, I guess, explains my case). A win for folk medicine!

Milk and honey (or just dairy)

For many, perhaps, this invokes pleasant childhood memories of their parents or grannies pouring them a cup of warm milk with cookies before bed, but my experience was different. We had a difficult relationship from the start, especially with warm milk – ah, the nightmare of a milk skin! Needless to say, I wasn’t really enthusiastic about this one; instead, I also read that drinking yogurt before bed is supposed to be helpful – so I did a very Russian thing and had ryazhenka instead. Can’t tell if it did anything for my sleep, but it did leave a very comforting sensation in my stomach that definitely lowered my stress levels, so I am counting it nonetheless.

AI review: a study where milk and honey was used as a medical intervention (along with other care) showed that it did improve sleep quality in hospitalized individuals – after three days of regular consumption. So, our parents knew what they were doing! However, studies into the effects of yogurt are inconclusive. 

Yoga poses

One article I found on a random-looking Russian website recommended doing yoga, especially child’s pose and corpse pose, before bed to calm the nervous system and even help with back pain in case of the former. As a practiced yogi, I was enthusiastic about this one and I thoroughly enjoyed several minutes of child’s pose after a long day of sitting at a desk. I think releasing muscle tension did help me, because I don’t remember falling asleep on that day – a good sign. I’d definitely try yoga before sleep again.

AI review: meta-reviews, as well as randomized controlled trials, show that regular yoga practice is indeed beneficial in terms of not only improving sleep quality, but also alleviating insomnia! That’s quite a motivation to roll out your mat every day!

Essential oils

I found mentions of various oils with promised medicinal properties, but I had rosemary oil handy, so that’s what I settled on. Unfortunately, none of the articles specified how exactly you should use the oil, so I decided to feed two birds with one scone and applied rosemary oil on scalp for the night (don’t try this without testing for an allergy first) – because apparently the oil can also improve your hair. I’ve actually been doing this routine for quite a while now and I haven’t noticed any effect on my sleep whatsoever. Maybe I’ve been doing it wrong all along?

AI review: this failure is on me – I was using the oil wrong! Apparently, both aromatherapy and rosemary supplements can actually help improve sleep quality in various individuals, including university students. I am definitely giving this one another try.

Just pretend that you aren’t actually going to sleep

As someone who regularly wakes up at 4 in the morning and then struggles to fall asleep again, I’ve tried this counterintuitive method a fair number of times. You are supposed to either do some household chore, find a boring task, or even go about starting your day – and then you are supposedly grasped by an overpowering drive to sleep that leads you back to dreamland. I love the simple magic of it, but it never ever worked for me. If I wake up and “pretend” I am going to stay awake, my brain gets into full gear: ideas for posts and articles, things to text to people first thing in the morning, dormant to-dos, anything goes – and it all just floods my head. Falling asleep is impossible and I truly envy those people for whom this brilliant method works.

AI review: the scientific term for this method is paradoxical intention – and it’s actually an established insomnia treatment, shown to be as effective as relaxation and other behavioral techniques. What I think I can do next time is actually following the procedure of one of the studies to a T, to try and reproduce the results at home – my next citizen science project!

We at ITMO.NEWS love trying out different things in our experiments – read them all here.