Homeopathic Remedies for Insomnia

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Belladonna: 
A person needing Belladonna is extremely restless. Frightful images when drifting off to sleep cause the patient to dread sleep. They are awakened by nightmares, or they can experience a throbbing in the brain that prevents sleep.

Aconitum napellus: This remedy can be helpful if a person panics with insomnia. Fear and agitation come on suddenly when the person is drifting off to sleep, or may wake them.

Arsenicum album: People who need this remedy are often anxious and compulsive about small details and have trouble sleeping if they feel that everything is not in place. They are often deeply weary and exhausted, yet feel restless physically and mentally. Sleep, when it arrives, can be anxious and disturbed, with dreams full of fear and insecurity.

Calcarea phosphorica: This remedy is often helpful to children with growing pains, and also for adults who have aching in the joints and bones, or neck and shoulder tension that make it hard to fall asleep. The person lies awake for many hours, feeling upset and irritable—then has trouble waking in the morning, and feels deeply tired and weak.

Cocculus: This remedy is often helpful to those who feel “too tired to sleep” after long-term sleep loss: from getting up with an infant, taking care of someone who is ill, a disruptive work schedule, travel and jet lag, or chronic worry and insomnia. The person may feel weak and dizzy, with trouble thinking, and may be sleepy, irritable, or tearful.

Coffea cruda: Mental excitement and nervous stimulation that prevents sleep suggest a need for remedy. Thoughts may be either happy or distressing. The person may be looking forward to something that will happen in the morning, but feels stressed and exhausted as the night wears on. If the person falls asleep, it is usually very light with vivid dreams, disturbed by any noise or motion. (This remedy can also help if overuse of caffeine is the cause of sleeplessness.)

Ignatia: If insomnia is caused by emotional upset such as grief or loss, a disappointment in love, a shock, or even an argument, this remedy may be helpful. The person is sensitive and nervous, and may often sigh and yawn in the daytime, but find it hard to relax at night. As the person tries to fall asleep, the arms and legs twitch or itch. If sleep arrives, it is usually light, with jerking of the legs and arms, or with long and troubling nightmares.

Kali phosphoricum: A person with insomnia from nervous exhaustion caused by overwork or mental strain, or following a taxing illness, may respond to this remedy. The person is very weak and sensitive to everything (noise, lights, touch, and pain). Irritability, depression, and anxiety with an empty feeling in the stomach are often seen.

Lycopodium: People who need this remedy often have no memory of dreams and often doubt that they have slept at all. Insomnia may set in primarily because of worry: lack of confidence can make them doubt their own abilities, although they are usually very capable. Insomnia caused by digestive trouble, especially gas, can also indicate a need for this remedy. The person feels drowsy after meals, but has trouble sleeping at bedtime. Ravenous hunger in the night that wakes a person up is another indication for Lycopodium.

Nux vomica: People who have insomnia after over-indulgence in stimulants, food, and drink—or after overexertion, either physically or mentally—may benefit from this remedy. They may be able to drift off, but sleep is light, and they often awaken in the early morning (typically three a.m.) and lie awake for hours. On getting up, they are tense, impatient, and irritable, with a feeling that they still need more sleep.

Silicea (also called Silica): This is a useful remedy for nervous people with low stamina who get tired easily but then have insomnia. The person often goes to sleep at first, but awakens suddenly with a hot feeling in the head, then finds it hard to fall asleep again. People who need this remedy usually have anxious dreams, and some (especially children) sleepwalk.

Sulphur: This remedy may be helpful if insomnia comes from itching—or an increasing feeling of heat in bed, especially in the feet. The person is irritable and anxious, and often feels a need to throw the covers off. Lying awake between two and five a.m. is typical. Insomnia that develops because of a lack of exercise may also be helped with Sulphur.

Zincum metallicum: People who need this remedy often have insomnia from mental activity. They can get wound up from overwork—or be naturally inclined toward nervousness and just have trouble relaxing. Their legs and arms often feel extremely restless, and lying still in bed may be impossible. Even during the daytime, a person who needs this remedy may feel a constant need to move their muscles.