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proudly made in the united states
proudly made in the united states
Sleep is the foundation of everything—your energy, mood, hormones, digestion, and even how patient you are when someone chews too loudly. And yet, so many of us struggle with it.
For me, sleep became a non-negotiable priority in 2015 when I found myself depleted—physically, mentally, and emotionally (that story here). I was the woman whose demons loved to party at 3 AM, and those early morning panic spirals quickly took a toll on my days.
My naturopath gave me my life back by first giving me my sleep back - using many of the tips and supplements I mention below.
Since then, I’ve spent a decade experimenting, tweaking, and refining the best real-world practices for falling asleep and staying asleep. I’m sharing them all with you below—including tips you probably haven’t heard before.
If you can fall asleep but still wake up in the early morning hours, pay extra attention to the last section —you may be missing a key piece of the puzzle.
Most people focus on what they do right before bed, but how you prepare for sleep hours before bedtime can make all the difference. I’ve learned that sleep isn’t something that just happens—the best results come when you create ideal conditions for it.
Your body naturally lowers its core temperature before sleep, and if your room is too warm, it can disrupt this process, leading to restless tossing and turning.
💡Quick Fix: Program your thermostat to 65°F-68°F at bedtime, or try cooling bedding if you sleep hot.
The blue light from screens suppresses melatonin, making it harder to feel sleepy. Even if you think scrolling helps you relax, it’s actually tricking your brain into thinking it's daytime.
💡Quick Fix: If you absolutely must use your phone, turn on Night Mode, use blue-light blocking glasses (they have orange colored lenses and are available on Amazon).
Bright artificial lighting signals to your brain that it’s still daytime. Soft, dim lighting tells your body to start winding down.
💡Quick Fix: I call this the “Lamplight Hour” - Turn off the overhead lights in the house and turn on the lamps - preferably with only warm-toned bulbs. Himalayan salt lamps and candlelight in the evening also offer a gentle transition into nighttime mode.
Key word: weighted. Deep pressure stimulation from weighted blankets and eye masks has been shown to lower stress hormones and increase serotonin, which helps your body relax into sleep.
💡Quick Fix: Try a weighted eye mask (my favorites are filled with flax seed and dried lavender), which blocks out light and applies gentle pressure to calm your nervous system.
If screens are a no-go before bed, reading is one of the best alternatives—but what you read matters. Picking up a thriller, true crime novel, or work-related book will likely wake up your brain instead of calming it down.
Instead, reach for something soothing, beautiful, or reflective—books that feel like a warm cup of tea for the soul.
💡Quick Fix: Try reading poetry, spiritual reflections, or books by favorite authors that bring comfort and depth rather than tension or urgency.
Reading from a real book (not a screen) with soft lighting can help ease you into sleep naturally—like a gentle transition rather than a sudden "off" switch for your brain.
Just like morning coffee signals "wake up time", a small, intentional bedtime ritual can train your brain to associate it with winding down. When done consistently, this simple step can act as a subtle but powerful trigger that tells your body: It’s time to rest.
Your ritual can be anything soothing and repeated nightly—something small, meaningful, and sensory-based. A few ideas:
Light a small candle on your nightstand when you crawl into bed to read, then blow it out just before sleep. I use small soy candles in tin containers with lids as they are easy to travel with.
Turn on an essential oil diffuser with calming scents like lavender, cedarwood, or chamomile as you settle in.
Say a short prayer, blessing, or gratitude reflection to create a moment of peace before sleep and calm your soul. I have an entire Pinterest board saved of nighttime prayers that I love to read to help release a particularly stressful day.
Take a warm shower or bath, or massage a calming lotion or oil onto your hands and feet, letting the scent and sensation relax you.
The key is consistency—repeating the same small action each night creates a psychological and physiological cue for sleep. Over time, this gentle sleep trigger helps calm the mind, soothe the body, and prepare you for deep rest.
Now, let’s talk about what actually helps when it comes to supplements.
If you’ve had poor sleep and stress for a while and are waking up between 2-4 AM, your cortisol levels might be too high. Ashwagandha is an adaptogenic herb that lowers cortisol and promotes deeper sleep.
💡How to Take It: Take 2 capsules in the evening while washing up before bed. You can stop taking after early AM wakings have stopped.
(Our Minding Down Sleep Support doesn’t include Ashwagandha due to limited studies on prolonged nightly use and the potential for skin sensitivity with prolonged use. However, it remains our favorite “as-needed” support for stress and cortisol balance.).
Magnesium relaxes muscles, calms the nervous system, and improves sleep quality. Many people are deficient in magnesium, and implementing magnesium alone at bedtime alone can dramatically improve sleep.
💡How to Take It: Minding Down™ Sleep Support contains Magnesium Bisglycinate, the most bioavailable form for sleep. Take 2 capsules 60 minutes before bed.
Glycine lowers body temperature and helps you get more REM sleep. It’s naturally found in collagen, but drinking collagen tea at night = bathroom wake-ups.
💡How to Take It: Minding Down™ Sleep Support contains Glycine, so just take 2 capsules 60 minutes before bed.
If your brain won’t stop racing, PharmaGABA is a game-changer. It calms mental chatter and eases tension, making it easier to drift off.
💡How to Take It: Already included in Minding Down™, so take 2 capsules 60 minutes before bed.
Melatonin isn’t a sedative—it just signals to your brain that it’s nighttime ( we wrote about melatonin in our last blog post here). Most people overdose on it. If you’re completely off-track, use it for a few nights, then stop. There is a time and place for melatonin, but we don't recommend it for prolonged nightly use.
💡How to Take It: 1-3 mg max, 60 minutes before bed. Go for an organic chewable or under-the-tongue dissolvable tablet form.
If you wake up at 3 AM like clockwork, it could be a blood sugar crash. Not enough people know about this.
When blood sugar drops too low, your body releases cortisol and adrenaline to restore balance. The problem? Those hormones wake you up in the process.
A study in Diabetes Care confirms that low nighttime glucose levels trigger the body's stress response, leading to sleep disturbances.
Have a small snack before bed that combines protein + fat to stabilize blood sugar.
✅Sliced turkey and cheese roll-up
✅A spoonful of almond butter or peanut butter
✅Bone broth or a collagen protein drink
✅Cottage cheese
✅Full fat Greek Yogurt
❌Avoid high-sugar, carb-heavy snacks—they spike blood sugar, leading to an evenworsecrash.
If you commit to even a few of these changes, you’ll start waking up feeling human again. Dr. Matthew Walker, author of Why We Sleep, says:
"Sleep is the single most effective thing we can do to reset our brain and body health each day."
My last tip: After putting the above routines and steps into place, when you’re in bed reading or winding down and the tiredness hits, act on it ASAP.
Don’t push through to finish a chapter. Close the book, put on your weighted eye mask, blow out the candle, turn off the lamp, and let your incredible body do what it’s meant to do—sleep deeply.
And if you’re looking for a hormone-free, science-backed supplement for truly restorative sleep created by a team that is deeply passionate about sleep, we wholeheartedly invite you to try Minding Down™ Sleep Support—your shortcut to better sleep, naturally.
