Sleep your way to better health: a good night's rest can help you lose weight, beat depression, and ward off heart disease

Natural Health, June, 2008 by Susan Hayes

Take valerian to relax

Nearly 6 percent of people in the U.S. took the herbal extract valerian at least once in 2006, according to a 2007 study in Sleep. "Valerian appears to increase the body's available supply of the neurotransmitter gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA)," says Cathy Wong, N.D., a naturopath in Boston. "One of GABA's effects is to regulate nerve cells so they don't activate too often"

BUYING GUIDE Try valerian root capsules at gaiaherbs.com.

DOSAGE Take 400 mg per day an hour before bedtime. "It may take three weeks to work," says Wong.

CAVEAT Valerian shouldn't be used for more than three months at a time, says Wong. "You may have heart palpitations, headaches, blurred vision, and nausea if it's used over a long period of time," she says.

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Try melatonin

The same hormone that your body produces to induce drowsiness, melatonin, can be purchased over-the-counter in a pill form. Unlike valerian, "melatonin usually has an immediate effect," says Wong. BUYING GUIDE Look for Puritan's Pride melatonin at puritan.com. DOSAGE Take 0.3 mg per day about 30 minutes to an hour before bedtime. "The recommendation on product bottles, 1 to 3 mg, is higher than many practitioners believe it should be," says Wong. "There's concern that too large a dosage could cause the body to reduce its own production of melatonin."

Sniff lavender before bed

When 31 "healthy sleepers" aged 18 to 30 years in a Wesleyan University peer-reviewed study (published in 2005 in the journal Chronobiology International) sniffed lavender essential off over the course of one half hour before bed, it increased the amount of time they spent in the most productive stages of sleep, and they reported feeling more rested the next day.

BUYING GUIDE Try Aura Cacia lavender oil at health food stores or natural markets or at auracacia.com.

DIRECTIONS "Put a few drops of lavender off in a warm bath about an hour before bed," suggests Wong. "A warm bath raises body temperature. When it falls after you get out, that drop causes you to feel drowsy."

THE PROBLEM" Sleep apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea's symptoms include loud snoring and gasps for breath, but it also interrupts sleep because it causes you to stop breathing for anywhere from ten to 30 seconds at a time. "The oxygen-deprived brain sounds an alarm--the arousal trigger--forcing you to wake up, jolting open the upper airway, and allowing the proper airflow to resume," explains Carlos H. Schenck, M.D., in his book Sleep: The Mysteries, the Problems, and the Solutions,

More than 18 million Americans have sleep apnea, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Try a mask to breathe right Obstructive sleep apnea needs to be diagnosed in a sleep lab. The most reliable treatment is a mask that fits over the nose and/or mouth called a "continuous positive airway pressure device," or CPAP. It blows in pressurized air to keep the airway open. CAVEAT Be sure to test a mask first to make sure it's comfortable for you. Ask your doctor to suggest a make.