Can't sleep? Try these natural sleep remedies backed by science

From coach.nine.com.au

When it comes to getting quality shut-eye, apparently around 45 per cent of Aussies struggle to fall asleep.
Anxiety, stress and diet can all disrupt healthy sleeping patterns, and the impact can be profound.
Sleep scientist Dr Carmel Harrington knows all too well the knock-on effects caused by a lack of sleep.

"We perform functions in sleep we can't perform at any other time in a 24 hour period that are essential to our ongoing good physical and mental health," she says.
"If we don't get enough sleep, we will suffer."

But while it may seem tempting to reach for a sleeping pill and be done with it, there are some much healthier science-backed natural options to carry you off to the land of nod — that won't leave you with a nasty hangover of side effects.
"There's lots of things you can try before you go there [take a sleeping pill] ," Dr Harrington tells Today host Deborah Knight.

Essential oils for relaxation

Aromatherapy works by stimulating smell receptors in the nose, which then send messages through the nervous system to the limbic system. And the best scent for sleep?
"One of the really good things that's been shown by researchers — lavender," Dr Harrington says.
You can buy it as an essential oil, and by burning it or spritzing around your pillow and sleeping space it has been found to reduce heart rate, stress and relax muscles.
"That reduces anxiety and actually can promote sleep ."

Sleep-boosting supplements

The food and nutrients absorbed into your body can actually help you snooze.
"Sometimes our diet's a bit inefficient and we need to have good vitamins and minerals to support the sleep process ," Dr Harrington says.
A magnesium supplement in a powder or tablet form can be really helpful for supporting quality sleep if you're not getting enough if your regular diet.
"Magnesium helps get us into that really beautiful deep sleep, which is great for our physical health ."
The other, Dr Harrington says, is calcium as it allows us to use our sleep hormone melatonin more effectively — but just be sure not to take it at the same time as magnesium.
"Often we're told to take [magnesium and calcium] together. Calcium can affect the absorption of magnesium, so perhaps take calcium in the morning, magnesium in the evening. "
"[Magnesium] is also fantastic for people who suffer from cramps or muscle aches and pains."

                               A bad diet can impact your sleep, according to experts. (iStock)

Does drinking milk before bed help you sleep?

A big glass of warm milk before bedtime was the sleep prescription from every mother and grandmother in the last century, but does is the old wives' tale backed by science?
"So the way milk works is it has essential amino acids in it, one of them is tryptophan.
"Tryptophan is a precursor to seratonin, which is our feel-good hormone, and that goes on to make our melatonin [the sleep hormone]," Dr Harrington explains.

"Often the amino acids don't cross the blood-brain barrier, but in this circumstance, because it's attached to a simple sugar, like in milk lactose or in your almond milk, it will cross the blood-brain barrier and it will promote sleep, which is great ."
Even cow's milk alternatives like almond milk help, as they're an excellent source of calcium which helps the brain make melatonin.

There's an additional benefit to incorporating milk into your bedtime ritual, too.
"The thing about having a bedtime routine that involves say warm milk or milk or hot chocolate is because ... once you start to have your milk at night your body thinks, 'ah it's time to go to sleep'."

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