Does anyone use any natural ways to relax?

Hi sunset, i use a lavender plug in and have a cup of camomile tea before bed, never fails to bring on the sleepiness, and i had ALOT of trouble sleeping.

I find if camomile tea isn't to your liking, its not to mine either, then use lemon and honey to alter the taste, it does make it slightly better.

Also relaxation helps, like concentrating on each individual body part and relaxing only the bit your concentrating on, start from your toes and you should either be asleep before you reach your head or be tired enough to drift off.

Also a part of meditation i learned is to concentrate on different parts of your body and imagine them being 10% more relaxed than they are now, imagine the tension leaving that part of your body, like i used to imagine it like dust flying away in the wind, and from first hand experience this always knocked me out....if your doing it correctly then you should start to feel a little weightlessness to your body, like your floating, this is your body switching off and getting ready to sleep. After this imagine your in a calm place personal to you, like a Forrest or something, and imagine yourself walking around the Forrest discovering new things, then imagine there's a stream in the Forrest and you decide to go for a swim and whilst your floating in this stream imagine it washing away your fears and anxieties, and with every slow, deep breath in you breath in peace and calm and with every breath out you breath out stress and worries, imagine nothing can hurt or scare you when your in this place.

Hopefully these should help you drift off into a peaceful slumber. I would recommend downloading some relaxation apps onto your phone if you can and some meditating ones too, i find the monotone relaxing voice also helps you drift off as you can allow it to completely fill your mind.

I hope some of this helps.

Danielle x

Danielle has given you good advice. I have found the following also effective.Tightening your muscles

starting by raising your eyebrows, shutting your eyes, clenching your jaw, smiling broadly

and slowly progressing down your body to your toes but relaxing after each tightening. Also meditate on a

beautiful and relaxing scene, i.e. lying in a hammock in a shady glade, or lying on beach letting the sand

run through your fingers. These techniques were prescribed to me by a sleep specialist (PhD) on

Long Island, NY where I live. Practice these exercises daily and soon you will drift off to sleep ever more

rapidly. Vicky

Hi Sunset, I find herbal teas like mint, and particularly Sage are very beneficial. I use fresh sage from the garden. I can't think why sage tea isn't more popular: it's very pleasant and mellow.

I also have a selection of free hypnosis audios from my library website. Many of them are very effective, and got me back on the right track when I was having sleeping problems. Strangely I had a problem with the one specifically for Anxiety. Apparently even the word anxiety makes me feel tense!

I'm also a great believer in fresh air, exercise, music, hydration, and good food. This might sound quite obvious, but I think a lot of people forget about the basics.

Please let us know how you get on. I'm always interested in natural remedies and self help

Thanks for everyone's replies, I will definately try some of the relaxation techniques. I do always drink a flavoured tea before bed, I've not actually tried camomile because I just thought that I wouldn't like it, I just drink caffeine free fruit teas like blueberry and apple, I suppose I should try camomile tea.

Yeah I'm trying to get out more walking and jogging now that I am starting to feel much better.

I am still currently taking mirtazapine, but I wanted to start adding natural remedies into my routine and prepare myself for hopefully coming off them in a few months. Also I still have some nights when I find it difficult relaxing, and don't want to rely on any more medications, would be good to find something simple I can try.

Thanks again

This may not be what you mean by natural but the only natural way i know off relaxing is masturbation an considering it also releases seratonin which acts as a happy pill so to speak its also good for a natural anti depressant.

not to mention id call it the most natural of ways to relax but i will apologize if ive offended you but to be fair if im having a really bad day then ill just goto bed early an have some self loving.

Of course if you have a partner then try sex.

No you haven't offended me at all. To be honest i wasn't expecting an answer like yours but its probably true.

That said I can only talk as a guy since im pretty sure different chemicals are released when women masturbate but i do know that seratonin is released for both men an women.

Yeah actually I think I have heard before that for guys, sex releases chemicals that make them sleepy but for women it's different . Something like that anyway. So your tip probably won't help me.