How to Cure Daytime Fatigue and Sleep Difficulties

To find out what your sleep needs are, turn off your alarm clock when you're well rested and see how long you naturally sleep. (Most people need 7 to 9 hours).

You may need more sleep during times of illness or emotional stress, or during the winter months. Pregnant women often need several hours more sleep than usual during their first three months of pregnancy.

Good sleep strategies are essential to restful sleep. By trying out a variety of healthy, sleep promoting techniques, you can discover what works for you.

The key is to experiment. What works for some might not work for you. It's important to find your personal prescription for sound sleep. Consistency is important.

1. Adopt a regular bedtime and waking time. Turning in before 11 PM induces better sleep.

2. Limit caffeine, alcohol, and cigarettes.

3. Eat a healthy diet of fruits and vegetables and drink plenty of water. Avoid eating heavy meals before bedtime. A snack of tryptophan-containing foods, such as turkey, banana, or whey protein can induce sleep. My favorite bedtime snack is Beyond Organic Amasai.

4. Walk barefoot before bedtime. This can help you discharge electricity that builds in your body - and potentially disturbs sleep.

5. Exercise regularly to improve sleep patterns and improve the quality of sleep at night.

6. Meditate with a phrase, pray, or perform breathing exercises before turning in for the night. These are great ways to rid yourself of the day's stresses.

7. Forget about work and household pressures. If you need to remember something, write it down so that you can pick it up in the morning.

A peaceful bedtime routine sends a powerful signal to your brain that it's time to wind down and let go of the day's stresses.

1. Take a hot bath 90 minutes before bedtime using a calming cleanser, like baking soda, Epsom Salts and lavender essential oil to soothe away the stress and tension.

2. Read a good but not great book.

3. Rub a drop of an essential oil such as lavender on your palm and smooth over your pillow to aid with sleep.

4.. You may intend a peaceful nights sleep when you lay down in bed. Something like:

I intent that I fall asleep quickly and easily and sleep peacefully through the night till 6 AM when I awake gently, revived and happy and ready for another exciting and productive new day.

My best tip for quality sleep - use relaxing essential oils before bedtime for more restful sleep.

The olfactory membrane is the only place in the human body where the central nervous system is exposed and in direct contact with the environment.

The sense of smell is the only sense that does not sleep - allowing information to reach the limbic system, a part of the brain involved in memory and emotion. All the other senses past through the thalmus, which is closed while you sleep.

Aromatherapy can calm your nerves and help you sleep more soundly. Many essential oils, such as basil, chamomile, lavender, marjoram, valerian, vetiver, and ylang ylang reduce stress and promote relaxation, making it easier to fall asleep.

A 1995 study published in The Lancet found that aromatherapy using diffused essential lavender oil helped elderly patients sleep longer with fewer periods of restlessness.

In a study reported in the British Medical Journal, Lancet, elderly patients slept "like babies" when lavender aroma was wafted into their bedrooms at night. These patients had complained of difficulty falling asleep and had to take sleeping pills to get to sleep prior to aromatherapy.

The top causes and cures for insomnia:

1. Excitement/Anxiety

Essential Oils: Lavender, Valerian
Blends: Peace and Calming, RutaVaLa or Tranquil Roll-On

2. Fear - nightmares and restless sleep.

Essential oils: Valor or Harmony Blend

3. Toxic liver - insomnia between 1-3 AM.

A liver cleanse can help. I like Re-Juva-Nate Kit, which contains powerful supplements that promote cleansing and rejuvenation.

4. Hormone Imbalance

If you are a woman and wake up between midnight and 4 A.M. - a telltale sign of menopause, you may be suffering from estrogen dominance, a problem easily solved with a little progesterone cream.

Suggested Supplement: Prenolone Cream.

Essential Oil: RutaVaLa, reduces elevated cortisol levels associated with stress and aging.

5. ADD-ADHD

Essential Oil Blend: Peace and Calming

Suggested Supplement: Mineral Essence

6. Weakened Immune System - Minute viruses and parasites can keep you awake!

Suggested Supplement: ImmunPro with melatonin is designed to help with age-related sleep disorders or fragmented sleep due to fibromyalgia. Melatonin can gradually help insomniacs feel sleepy at an earlier hour. While melatonin can help normalize an out of balance sleep pattern, it is not a sleeping pill.

7. Pain

Essential Oil Blend: Deep Relief Roll-on

The right essential oils/oil enhanced supplements may help you as they have others to sleep more soundly and have more energy during the day.

Since working a full time job again, I've had to get up early and go to bed early. It's not always easy to force yourself to get to sleep on time and for someone who requires 9 hours of sleep to feel at optimum, I know I'm not getting the REM sleep my body needs. Therefore, my immune system has been suffering until... I tried the Sleep Essence supplement (with melatonin)!

Not only am I sleeping better and deeper, but dreaming, decompressing and downloading every night. The results I'm getting are quite amazing! My husband is taking it too, with the same results! He hardly ever can remember his dreams and now he recalls them most every night - April Travis

Although chemists have successfully recreated many of the main constituents and fragrances of essential oils in the laboratory, these synthetic oils lack therapeutic benefits and may even carry risks. Inferior quality oils or adulterated oils most likely will not produce therapeutic results.

When comparing essential oils on the market the words 'for external use only' are major warning signs of impure oils - and if you look closely you'll find that the majority of products on the market fall into this category. With 100% pure, organic essential oils, there is no reason you should not be able to take them internally. That is why I exclusively use Young Living essential oils. To date, I have not found any other company that rigorously monitors every aspect of production from 'Seed to Seal' and takes as much passion and pride in the integrity and quality of their products.