Natural Remedies for Pregnancy Insomnia

If you are pregnant and you are finding it difficult to fall asleep during the night-time, then you are not alone.  Many women who are pregnant suffer from insomnia during pregnancy. The main thing to do if you have a hard time falling asleep is try not to worry about it too much. Of course, this may be easier said than done because pregnancy can cause a lot of changes to your body and sleep pattern. Try the following natural remedies for pregnancy insomnia:

Eat melatonin rich foods

Melatonin is a hormone that your body makes in your pineal gland. Its job is to help your body know when to wake up and when to go to sleep. When you are pregnant, your melatonin levels increase to help you sleep while also helping regulate pregnancy hormones. If you have pregnancy insomnia then eating melatonin rich foods like tart cherries, cucumbers, milk, fish and nuts can help induce sleepiness.

Meditate

Stress and anxiety will only make it harder for you to fall asleep at night-time. You cannot remove all the stress from your pregnancy life, but you can meditate and remove some of it. Meditation calms the mind and relaxes the body and will be a good de-stressor at least once a day.

Take supplements to improve sleep quality

Some pregnant women who suffer from pregnancy insomnia may need more than meditation to help them sleep through the night. One way of helping to increase your chances and overall quality of sleep is to take a magnesium supplement. Magnesium helps to relax the muscles, so it eases pregnancy insomnia symptoms. Studies have shown that more than 80% of people are deficient in magnesium so taking a magnesium supplement may help you sleep better.

Get a pregnancy pillow

One of the pregnancy sleep tips that new parents can use is to get a body pregnancy pillow. These pillows wrap all the way around your body and give you support where support is needed most. You may find that these pillows help you to be more comfortable as you try and go to sleep.

Get some exercise

Getting enough exercise during pregnancy is important for a healthy pregnancy and can help make labour easier, but exercise can also improve your sleep! Our bodies, even when pregnant are designed to move.  So, get moving.  Exercise in pregnancy not only helps pregnancy insomnia but also reduces pregnancy nausea and enhances pregnancy sex drive.

Avoid blue light at night

Once the sun goes down, turn off the TV, put away the iPhone and get off the computer. As hard as this can be, it will make a HUGE difference to your sleep quality! Whether you are pregnant or not, you should be protecting your sleep by not looking at electronic screens before bedtime.

To nap or not to nap

Whether napping helps with pregnancy insomnia will depend on the woman and her situation.  You know best. If you’re feeling tired, try napping. It’s important to remember that if you are napping constantly during the day and you find that you have insomnia at night-time then you should try to refrain from napping during the daytime to see if that helps.

Meals

While pregnancy insomnia may not be related to the foods you are eating, it’s still worth being aware of what you’re putting into your body. Look for some healthy pregnancy meals for some ideas. Eating healthily will make you feel healthier and better overall. The times that you eat meals is also something to consider when trying to cure insomnia. Some people’s bodies (especially pregnant women) may become restless while they are trying to both digest food and get some rest at the same time.  Try to space out your meals so that you’re not getting hungry and trying to sleep, but also try to keep them regular for when you need energy.

Do you struggle with pregnancy insomnia? Then try and follow some of the methods mentioned above. If none of these natural remedies are helping, then it may be time to speak with your doctor and follow their advice. No matter what, pregnancy insomnia is manageable and hopefully these tips help. If this article helped, and you found my content useful then please share my website with others and follow my social media which are listed below.