Looking for how to sleep better using natural sleep remedies? Did you know that most of the strategies for good sleep also help your immune system eliminate any virus, bug, infection, or pollen exposure that comes your way?

“AMAZING BREAKTHROUGH! Scientists have discovered a revolutionary new treatment that makes you live longer. It enhances your memory and makes you more creative. It makes you look more attractive. It keeps you slim and lowers food cravings. It protects you from cancer and dementia. It wards off colds and the flu. It lowers your risk of heart attacks and stroke, not to mention diabetes. You’ll even feel happier, less depressed, and less anxious. Are you interested?”

― Matthew Walker, Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams

Can you guess what it is?

If you guessed sleep, then you are a winner in our book. Learning how to sleep better is infinitely important!

We are living in wild times, with a virus captivating the world and media outlets bombarding us with negative, fear-promoting, stress-inducing information. Not to mention the changing seasons, with a whole new slew of allergy agitators in the wind. It’s no wonder our immune systems (and nervous systems!) are being overloaded. Most of us are in desperate need of a reboot.

Well, good news! One of the best natural immune boosters out there is free and generally pretty easy to get: sleep!

How Sleep and the Immune System are Connected

Your sleep and immune system are intimately connected. While sleeping, your body produces a type of protein called cytokines, which effectively target both inflammation and infection. Without sleep, these lovely little powerhouses of sickness-fighters aren’t being made and thus our bodies are left open to all sorts of invaders looking to wreak havoc on our lives.

Similarly, in this study, Dr. Dimitrov found that while sleeping, the concentration of major stress-causing hormones such as adrenaline, noradrenaline and other pro-inflammatory molecules are low.

This allows for a class of adhesion molecules called integrins to become more sticky, which is important for T cells. As you may know, T cells are another class of virus fighting heroes. When T cells attack an infected cell, they need to stick to that cell long enough to combat the intruder.

Sleep allows the stress hormones to drop, the stickiness of the integrins between the T cell and the virus or cancer infected cells to rise, and so gives your body a better chance of winning the battle.

Think of it like this: when you sleep, your body naturally produces some high powered warriors to fight off sickness. During the day, these warriors go to work protecting you from infectious diseases, viruses and other inflammatory responses.

Without sleep, your immune system doesn’t produce as many of these warriors to help fight during the day, making you much more likely to catch something.

It’s no wonder that when your immune system is already compromised that your body naturally craves rest, seclusion, and more sleep. It’s doing this so that it has the ability to create the very immune boosters your body needs to fight the infection.

If you continually focus on how sleep and immune system strength work together, you may think twice about that one extra episode on Netflix right before bed.

Sleep Better for the Ultimate Immune Boost

1. One of the best natural sleep remedies is to simply pay attention to your circadian rhythm. This is your body’s natural time-keeping mechanism, which floods your body with different hormones to let you know when to sleep and when to wake up.
   1. Get plenty of natural sunlight during the day, which has been shown to increase sleep efficiency by 80% at night according to this study (hyperlink: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12789673/).
   2. At night, try to eliminate blue light at least two hours before bed time. You can do this by using blue light blockers on your computer/phone/tv screens or by wearing blue light blocking glasses. Or, follow a no-media-before-bed protocol and simply end screen time at least two hours before sleep.
   3. Going to bed and waking up at the same time every day helps to strengthen your circadian rhythm. Experiment with going to bed when you feel tired and waking up without an alarm clock. Then, if your schedule allows, stick as close to those times as you can for the highest quality of sleep with your body’s natural schedule.
2. Avoid caffeine late in the day
   1. Caffeine has been shown to stay in your system for up to eight hours. By eliminating caffeine at least eight hours prior to sleep, it will reduce the chances of it affecting the quality of your sleep.
3. Avoid alcohol consumption
   1. Alcohol has been shown to affect your body’s natural melatonin production, which makes it harder both to go to sleep and to stay asleep.
   2. Symptoms of sleep apnea and snoring increase with alcohol consumption near bedtime.
   3. Human growth hormone is inhibited with alcohol consumption; a key player in your circadian rhythm.
4. Make your bedroom a sacred space
   1. Your bed should be for sleeping only. By eliminating phone use, eating, working and any other action other than sleep while in bed, you train your mind and body to understand that when you’re in bed, you’re going to sleep.
   2. Block out excess light, especially blue light, to make the room as dark as possible.
   3. Turn off anything that makes noise if it tends to keep you awake. Or utilize white noise like a fan or air purifier if that helps you relax.
   4. Keep your cell phone far from your bed so you don’t feel the urge to check on it at any time through the night.
5. Stop eating and drinking close to bedtime
   1. Allow your stomach to completely digest your dinner or evening snack hours before bed so that your body doesn’t spend unnecessary energy digesting instead of relaxing into sleep.
   2. Use the restroom right before bed so you don’t find yourself waking up in the middle of the night having to relieve yourself.
6. Exercise--but don’t exercise too close to bedtime
   1. Everybody knows that regular exercise can give you energy, reduce your stress levels and power up your immune system. However, working out too close to bedtime can actually make it harder for your body to relax and sleep.
7. Establish a solid night routine to prepare your mind and body for deep sleep
   1. By intentionally organizing the last hour before bed, you can train your body and mind to relax faster into a good night's sleep--even before you actually get into bed.
   2. Take a nice relaxing bath or shower an hour before bed.
   3. Read a few pages from your favorite fiction book.
   4. Meditate and stretch to calm your mind and loosen up your body.

When it comes down to it, knowing how to sleep better is an extremely important aspect of your life. If you want some of the most inexpensive natural sleep remedies on the market, these tips are invaluable!

By adjusting or incorporating the sleep habits listed above, you can ensure that you give your body and mind all the resources needed to restore its full fighting (and winning!) capacity.

Allowing seven to eight hours a night for your body to flow in and out of its natural sleep cycles, you give it the ability to lower your stress levels, increase your cytokine and T cell immune boosting potential, and ensure you are ready to face whatever life may bring.

It may take a little bit of time for your body to adjust to the new sleep habits you are implementing and if you want a little extra help, consider some of our amazing natural sleep remedies. 

Several of the Sarvaa supplement can be an incredibly helpful aid to sleeping more soundly. We would recommend: Golden Bliss and Hormone Happiness powders, and also Pain Release tincture which is comprised of mostly Nervine herbs that are calming and soothing especially right before bed. 

Remember not to lean too much on products though. Shifting your habits and attitude can be the most powerful thing you do to fall asleep and stay asleep for better immune protection.

Sleep well, friends! You deserve to be healthy!

Love Your Body! Love Everybody!