We all know how important sleep is for our health—but when you can’t sleep, it’s the last thing you want to hear. That only adds to the worry and stress , making it even harder to unwind.
Sleeping pills can be helpful in extreme situations, but they often leave you feeling groggy and sluggish the next day. It’s always a good idea to start with natural, gentle remedies. Whatever works for you—embrace it and don’t be too hard on yourself.
“Stay off screens,” they say. Sure, blue light can stimulate the brain, but if TikTok, some relaxing scrolling, or a bit of late-night wiki reading helps you unwind, then that’s your ritual—and that’s perfectly fine. Just remember to use night mode lighting.
Sometimes it’s not strict rules but clarity, comfort, and self-acceptance that ease us into rest.
At Westwood Botanicals, we crafted our Early Night Tisane as an organic blend to calm the mind and relax the body before sleep. Combining soothing botanicals like chamomile, passionflower, and lemon balm, it’s a natural ritual to help your body ease into rest.
Chamomile has been used for over 2,000 years, treasured by the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. Modern science shows why: chamomile contains apigenin, an antioxidant that binds to calming receptors in the brain. This helps reduce anxiety and gently encourage drowsiness.
Lemon balm’s history also stretches back more than two millennia. By the Middle Ages, lemon balm had become a staple in monastery gardens, where monks called it a ”nerve tonic” and prescribed it for sleeplessness and melancholy. Today, studies confirm that lemon balm helps increase GABA (calms brain activity), easing nervous tension and quieting restless thoughts.
Passionflower has been used for centuries in the indigenous traditions of the Americas as a natural remedy for anxiety, restlessness, and insomnia. By enhancing GABA activity, it calms the mind. When Spanish explorers brought it back to Europe in the 16th century, it quickly became a trusted herbal aid for sleep.
Years of long-haul flying taught me that small rituals make the biggest difference when it comes to rest. These are the ones I always come back to :
A warm cup of Early Night
No caffeine 5-7 hours before bed.
Keep it cool — a bedroom between 16–18°C helps your body know it’s time for sleep.
Counted breathing — in for four, out for six. Simple, steady, calming.
The mind calmer – choose any relaxing word (like ocean , garden , dream) Then think of other as many words beginning with the first letter and work your way through the whole word.
It doesn’t need to be complicated. The goal is simply to create consistency, so your body recognizes the signals that sleep is approaching
Simple rituals, gathered from years of crossing time zones, still help me—and I hope they help you too.