Welcome to this week’s edition of Align Women, inspired by the fact that I’m sleepy. To me, a mom and a chronic insomniac, a solid night’s sleep is like the perfect filet mignon: luxurious, restorative, difficult to achieve. St. Thomas Aquinas identifies sleep as a remedy for sorrow. Chronic sleep deprivation is the reason for a litany of health affiliations; we need it more than we know.

So, while taking Benadryl every night may be effective, there are some really strange side effects of the drug that might make you second guess your addiction. Melatonin is another favorite, but chemical dependency on the artificial hormone may disrupt your body’s ability to self-produce. Instead of these, I’ve found the incorporation of a strict evening routine to be helpful.

It begins with a hot bath or shower during and after which I incorporate lavender: in the bath in the form of an herbal sitz bath, like this one from In His Hands, or a shower steamer like this from Elk River Soap Company.  Then comes the cocktail. No, not that kind. In fact, alcohol can make sleep patterns much worse. What I’m talking about is a mixture of herbs and supplements that promote relaxation, incorporated into a broader routine designed to force you to wind down. Deep Sleep Mode from Happy Mammoth includes the best ingredients—that I often combine one at a time on my own. Though not American, this is a family-owned and operated business free of woke ideology and grift.

Place

Hoppy Dreams Sleep Company of Brevard, North Carolina also provides herbal sleep-aids–as well as hypoallergenic alpaca fleece pillows and cases for when you actually do make it into bed–if you’re looking to improve the quality of the items in your bedroom, which really can help improve the quality of sleep, keep reading. Get rid of the Chinese polyester crap: Red Land Cotton’s 100% cotton bedding, bed sheets, and bath towels are proudly made in the USA and crafted exclusively with cotton sourced directly from their North Alabama farm. Another thing I’ve found very helpful for sleep is a weighted blanket: Mosaic Weighted Blankets® are hand-stitched by seamstresses in Austin, Texas, and 100% Made in the USA.

Patronage

Check out my latest article in Return for some reflections on silence–its exterior and interior components, and how, ordered to its proper ends, unites us with God.