'Hey Tracie, I wanted to let you know I’m feeling great! No more shaky/restless legs at night and no need for sleeping tablets either. With the Sleep Tonic I now fall asleep straightaway.’ Helen, full-time mum
'I had problems getting to sleep and staying asleep until I discovered Tracie’s fantastic herbs, now I wake up refreshed after the best sleep, works a treat!' Helen, beauty salon owner

Sleep deprivation can leave you feeling anxious, exhausted, impatient, irritable and snapping at your kids or your boss (yikes!). It’s not fun.

Lots of factors can contribute to sleep difficulties. If you wake up in the morning to a destroyed bed, it’s a sure sign that your muscles were still moving when you were asleep – full of adrenalin and lactic acid as a result of a mentally challenging day.

So even though you may have looked like you were asleep, your muscles were still tense and you weren’t deeply relaxed. Another sign that you were running on adrenaline during the day, is if you wake up during the night to pee.

The active part of your nervous system, the sympathetic nervous system, should close down while you sleep, allowing your parasympathetic nervous system to take over completely and look after your breathing and digestion. But if you’re still electrically switched on, then your sympathetic nervous system keeps working when it shouldn’t be, leaving you feeling worn out before you even get out of bed.

The same goes for a head full of too many thoughts, worries and angst. Even having too much entertainment going around your head before bed – TV, a night out, Facebook – can lead to night after night of broken sleep.

What’s more, research has shown that your quality of sleep directly affects your body’s ability to heal, and good sleep patterns can increase your energy levels and improve your general wellbeing. So it’s not only the quantity of sleep, but also the quality of sleep you get that counts.

In a nutshell, not enough quality sleep: