We know sleep is a hot topic these days. Personally? We’ve always taken sleep very seriously. It’s probably why all of us here at Sleep Club gravitated toward each other. Our love of life and belief in living well means relaxing well. Just how we are.
Life is to be lived. We believe it fully. And to do that, embracing three things is really important to us — dream vibrantly, live passionately and sleep blissfully. Doing all of that isn’t always easy and we know that, especially getting a good slumber if you’re stressed, working like mad, pushing too hard. Oy, don’t we know. And there are tons of things out on the market these days to help you with that, right? Supplements, prescriptions, over the counter pharmaceuticals, home remedies — our heads are spinning just thinking about it. Is it warm milk that works? Should I have a glass of wine? Stay up late and get up early? WHAT?!?
Okay, we’re not sleep experts. Really, we’re not. We just believe in that incredible trifecta of Sleeping, Dreaming and Waking-Up feeding each other well and right. So, we’ve looked at other combos that support all of that and we’ve discovered three things that are their own natural — because there’s no way we want to deal with the after-effects of chemical narcotics (been there, done that, but that’s a whole other story) — restful release: Melatonin, L-Theanine and GABA.
Melatonin
Melatonin is naturally produced in the brain. It regulates your body’s ability to react to light and dark. That feeling you get of drowsiness and feeling ready to go to bed naturally when darkness falls? Yeah, that’s your melatonin kicking in and jumpstarting your circadian rhythm. It’s also got some amazing immunization and repair properties — a really potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. Melatonin works beautifully to relieve your jet-lag, even helps kill cancer cells. Pretty potent stuff, huh?
L-Theanine
This is a feel good amino acid. Sounds weird, right? But it’s true. L-Theanine has a calming effect on the nervous system and can reduce your anxiety and stress. It enhances your ability to sleep without waking up feeling drowsy and helps you focus without feeling wired.
GABA
Gamma-aminobutyric acid — aka GABA — is a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system. It sends signals to various parts of your brain to both initiate and suppress muscle movement in certain parts of our bodies. Basically, when all is right with your GABA levels, it relaxes your muscles and makes you feel less tense, you move more gracefully and even have more control over your movements. The GABA receptors are also in your hypothalamus and that controls your circadian rhythms, pumping up a healthy sleep-wake cycle.
Teaming up for blissful sleep-wake
Considering what these three natural sleep-wake enhancers do with our body on their own, putting them together in some sort of warm, fuzzy cocktail can be a welcoming team up. As we said at the beginning of this, we love sleeping, dreaming and waking up. It feels wonderful to snuggle up under the covers and get that soothing feeling of absolute, total relaxation flowing through your muscles like a gentle wave. Shutting your eyes easily, naturally — no stress, no strain — and then, WOOSH, sleep washes over you, engulfing you comfortably to float away into a world of sweet, gauzy dreams. And then you wake up feeling good, not drowsy, not soupy just… well… alive. Big, happy, contented sigh.
This sleep trifecta? Well, it’s just one of the ways to indulge in your life trifecta. And don’t you deserve to give yourself over to a wonderful life?
We say, “Yes.”
