Herbs

Herbalism Today and Blue Zones

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I think it’s fair to say that there’s been a systematic denigration of the use of herbs in America in the last few decades. Part of this stems from the very fact that herbalism has been in use since the dawn of humanity, and if it weren’t for herbs being used medicinally, I seriously doubt humans would have lasted long enough to have achieved the medical technological advances that we have now. That extraordinarily long history means herbs are tied up with myth, religion, and spirituality, as are all things from the ancient world. The world was not divided as it is now, with spiritual leaders, artists, scientists, politicians, and on and on all leading separate existences. Herbs fed humans daily, kept them alive and healthy, as well as kept vermin and germs away, so of course they were also part of the spiritual customs and traditions of each culture. They were both daily allies and miraculous magic workers. This intertwined ancestry is sacred still to many, but unfortunately others see it as a reason to label herbalism as just ‘old wives tales’ and consider it all ineffective, despite thousands upon thousands of years of use. It’s important to note that other parts of the world still embrace herbs as part of their medical system. According to the World Health Organization, around 75% of the world’s population still depend on herbal medicine for basic health care needs, and we aren’t just talking about third world countries. European doctors regularly prescribe ‘phytomedicines’ alongside other modern medicines, with German doctors reporting along the lines of 80% of them regularly using medicinal herbs in their practices, and in England and Australia both, herbalists are recognized health care providers. Also according to the World Health Organization, Japan leads the world in highest per capita consumption with 80% of Japanese doctors prescribing a traditional Chinese medicine within the last year. This shows that herbs are indeed effective, and they were seen as such in the U.S. too until the 1920s when the pharmaceutical industry really got going. (The numbers quoted above are from a book published in 2007 but seem consistent with what I’ve heard in the last couple of years.)

Another reason that herbs are often discounted is the fact that herbs exist in a different paradigm of health than our modern western view. In our culture today, if we don’t have a disease, that constitutes ‘healthy’ for the most part. We go to a doctor if we are unwell. The doctor runs tests and either offers us a procedure, or a pharmaceutical, or further testing, or if nothing is found than we are told to watch the symptoms and come back if need be. There is not much support for the in-between time in the modern American system, but that is the space where herbs (and other natural medicines) thrive. Herbs work to balance the body’s imbalances before reaching disease state. In this paradigm, health is a state of homeostasis, where minor issues are clues to overall body tendencies, and those can and should be addressed gently and consistently with herbs, and those medicinal herbs also provide beneficial side effects. This is a sharp contrast to what we are used to thinking of as medicine, and the truth is that most people are not in the habit of being self-aware enough to regulate their health before a disease state. Once a disease state has been reached most people want the fastest ‘cure’ which often means a relief of the symptoms, not a cure of the underlying imbalances that caused the issue in the first place. Not that every disease can be avoided with the proper herbs and care, but most people are at least vaguely aware of their personal patterns, genetics, and their weakest body systems that are apt to lead to sickness, so it is not such a far leap to start looking for ways to build weak areas up with herbs, nutrition, other natural products, and activities. It certainly beats knowing your genetic predisposition to certain weakness and yet doing nothing. There are always options. Self awareness leads to self care and self advocacy, and that is a healthy long-term outlook.

Speaking of a healthy outlook, my book club is now reading a book on Blue Zones (thanks to Lani for picking it!) which is a concept that’s interested me for some time so I’m excited to delve into it. Since I haven’t actually gotten the book yet though, I got familiar with the topic through this Delicious Living article that gives the quick and dirty on what makes a community a Blue Zone. Below are 9 pillars from the article to give you an idea of Blue Zones, but for the whole article, click the link above or the map below. Also, if you want to join our book club and read the book I linked to, let me know what you think!

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The Power 9 are the nine lifestyle principles, as outlined in The Blue Zones, that Buettner and his team documented during extensive research trips to the world’s five blue zones—Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Loma Linda, California; Okinawa, Japan and Icaria, Greece. These principles, he explains, are common elements of the lifestyle and diet habits and overall outlook the centenarians share in each location he visited. They’re a recipe for longevity, he says. “But it’s an à la carte menu; you don’t have to do all of them.”

Here’s how you can incorporate these proven principles in your own life and home—or even your community.

1. Move naturally

Be active without having to think about it.

2. Hara Hachi Bu

Painlessly cut calories by 20 percent.

3. Plant Slant

Avoid meat and processed foods.

4. Grapes of Life

Drink red wine (in moderation).

5. Find Purpose Now

Take time to see the big picture.

6. Downshift

Take time to relieve stress.

7. Belong

Participate in a spiritual community.

8. Loved Ones First

Make family a priority.

9. Right Tribe

Surround yourself with those who share your values. (End of article info.)

These seem to be pretty simple concepts that make sense. We all want the same things, to be happy and healthy, to stress less and enjoy more, to be around loved ones and feel our time here is significant in some greater way. Let’s try to make it happen. And if you are wanting to add herbs to your life but are unsure of where to start, adaptogens are a great place. They help the body adapt to stress, and who isn’t overly stressed these days? Check out my free mini-course for more information on adaptogens and keep an eye out for my longest course yet which will be dropping soon. It’s where most of my energy has been going lately and just for a little hint, it’s especially for the makers and creators out there. Take care my friends and remember that you are your own best advocate. Please subscribe (top right) for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share with anyone who might benefit from this article.

Adaptogens Mini-Course

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To be considered an adaptogen an herb must have the quality of not causing harm. Adaptogens are said to have plant intelligence in the way they support what each individual needs. To learn more about this quality, click the play button on the video below, and to learn more about adaptogens in general, check out my mini-course:

https://botanical-alchemy-and-apothecary.teachable.com/p/adaptogens

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel

Thank you! Be well and please subscribe for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share with anyone who might benefit from this mini-course.

 

Natural Help for Common Skin Issues

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Many people suffer from one or more of three common skin issues~ acne, eczema, and psoriasis. These can be frustratingly stubborn problems with a series of harsh topicals and prescriptions thrown at the issues with less than stellar results. The reason usually is, although it’s a myth that chocolate causes acne, the digestive system does indeed play a fundamental role in skin health. If you have a stubborn skin issue and haven’t looked into food intolerances yet, well, you are in for a treat because most likely once you get the food intolerances under control, your skin will glow with gratitude. There’s more to healthy skin than just a healthy gut of course, but you aren’t going to have the first without the latter, so step one is just making sure your digestive system is as healthy as can be. This may mean supplementing with bitters, enzymes, and probiotics to help the digestive system be optimally healthy, and if you do have food intolerances, there are other steps you can take to heal your system. By the way, you take bitters and/or enzymes before you eat, and probiotics after the meal is finished. Bitters activate your natural enzymes while taking enzyme supplements help to break down food with the added supplementation instead of boosting your body to make its own enzymes as the bitters do. Probiotics act later and deeper in the process.

Other important things to keep in mind when addressing skin issues are toxins in your food, products, and environments, your hormones (which really means your entire endocrine system), and your overall health which of course includes stress. That’s admittedly a lot to look into, so it might be nice to start with some natural topicals and specific supplementation for acne, eczema, and psoriasis. Delicious Living has a few suggestions to help with getting started:

Problem: Acne.

Clogged skin gland follicles lead to acne, the nation’s most common skin condition.

Cause: Pesky pimples are just part of the problem. Acne indicates any number of deeper health issues: hormonal imbalances, digestive upset, overactive oil glands or bacteria buildup, says Kate Tackett, ND. Although the condition is most common among 11- to 30-year-olds (approximately 80 percent of people in this age group experience it), many adults never outgrow acne and others may even experience acne for the first time in adulthood.

Topical solution: Look for serums and washes that use antimicrobial ingredients, such as tea tree oil, witch hazel and willow bark. Recent research also supports thyme for its acne-fighting properties. Salicylic acid (from willow bark) remains an effective go-to for alleviating inflammation and irritation. Green tea and neem may also help.

Try: Derma e Very Clear Acne Cleanser

Supplements: Use vitamin A to reduce sebum production; vitamins C, E and selenium to support skin “immunity” and skin cell repair; and probiotics to restore digestive imbalances. For severe redness, Benyamin recommends a high dose of 50 mg zinc (avoid long-term use at this dose; reduce it once redness subsides to avoid copper imbalance).

Try: Terry Naturally Acne Essentials

Problem: Eczema.

Eczema, from a Greek word meaning to “bubble or boil over,” is an itchy, red rash that can appear anywhere on the body and affects more than 30 million Americans. Although there is no cure, there are various ways to manage it.

Cause: As with acne, eczema triggers are vast—and vary from person to person. Common causes, according to Tackett, include excess stomach acid and leaky gut syndrome, candida overgrowth, food sensitivities, stress and contact with irritants found in cleaning and personal care products. Skin’s moisture loss can greatly exacerbate the condition.

Topical solution: Use gentle, nontoxic lotions that contain nourishing, plant-based oils and extracts. Research has shown that shea butter and sunflower seed oil can control and soothe dermatitis- related skin issues. Avoid “fragrances,” which are common skin irritants.

Try: Salcura Bioskin DermaSpray

Supplements: Probiotics balance gut bacteria and fight eczema-related inflammation. Omega-3s and hyaluronic acid restore moisture from the inside out.

Try: SeabuckWonders Sea Buckthorn Seed Oil

Problem: Psoriasis.

Less common than acne and eczema (10 percent of people inherit one or more of the genes that eventually lead to psoriasis, but only 2 to 3 percent of people develop it), psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that causes raised, red, scaly skin patches.

Cause: One main cause is silica (a trace mineral) deficiency, says Benyamin. Other triggers include genetics, leaky gut and diminished liver function.

Topical solution: Products that use salicylic acid can reduce scales and soften lesions, according to research published in Canadian Family Physician. Research has also shown that using aloe vera for four weeks can reduce psoriasis irritation. Jojoba moisturizes and soothes, while apple cider vinegar and capsaicin (the active ingredient in chili peppers) may alleviate itching and pain.

Try: Jason Natural Soothing Aloe Vera 98% Gel

Supplements: In addition to omega-3s and probiotics, look for beauty supplements that contain silica, with additional skin- and nail-supportive nutrients such as collagen and biotin. Tackett also recommends milk thistle for liver support and fiber to help eliminate toxins from the body.

Try: BioSil

If you like to drink herbal infusions, there are several blends that address skin health and usually focus on liver and blood cleansing herbs like burdock root and/or nettles. My favorite is Yogi’s Healthy Skin Tea with cinnamon and vanilla which is delicious and along with nettles has great digestive herbs and beautifying schisandra to support a healthy glow. There are plenty of other combinations out there if cinnamon and vanilla do not sound like your cup of, well, tea (oy!) and also green tea is always a great choice for skin health with all those antioxidants. Other herbs that are particularly healthy for the skin are Turmeric, Neem, and Amla, and be sure to drink plenty of water daily.

Wishing all of you skin that radiates your optimal health and natural light, and please subscribe for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share with anyone who might benefit from this article..

A Personal Note

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This blog has been trucking along for a while now, so I thought I’d check in with a personal note on the goals and philosophy for this space. It might seem a tad erratic with herbal tutorials here, food recipes there, and ready-made product information, but to me the goals are the same. My main interest is to empower people with the knowledge of what is out there in the natural world, whether that means their garden, their spice cabinet, or their natural food store, that can enrich their life and enhance their health. I’m a big believer in the idea that we are advancing in technological ways faster than we can humanly adapt, a concept that has been around for decades but has been mostly conveniently ignored, and this is my small way of grounding myself and anyone else who is interested back to the real world, the actual earth we inhabit, the roots that have brought us to this crazy point, and the traditions that have made us communal creatures. So much is lost each day to isolation, stretched schedules, imitation foods, and processed products, that the richness of life is threatened in the push towards better, faster, easier. But for what end? The Slow Foods Movement is a beautiful example of people taking a stand and saying we’ll take the more nutritious meal over the faster one, and that same idea can be applied to just about every aspect of life. Technology, and especially social media, are pushing images and information onto us and into us at an ever-increasing rate, leaving everyone a little on edge, if not completely frantic, and feeling always and forever behind. The laws haven’t kept up so how could our long-evolved emotions, our sense of time and space, our ideas of community, morality, humanity? They haven’t had the time and the future certainly isn’t carving out space for us to collectively take a time out and regroup, unless something major happens which certainly wouldn’t be pretty, so the best thing I can think to do is to try to be mindful of it all and not get swept up and away into the vacuum of a false reality. For humanity’s sake, for the plants’ and animals’ sake, and for the earth as a whole, we need to remain thoughtful. Humans are so darn proud of their capacity for higher thinking, yet we collectively choose to dull it on the regular. We must be mindful caretakers of each other and the earth we inhabit because it is quite simply our birthright. We can step up, or not, but the consequences of ‘not’ are unfortunately extreme.

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I engage in social media reluctantly, which is why I don’t do all the regular things bloggers generally do. There is a formula for it actually, the whole blogging thing, and I’ve studied how it’s done as is my nature, but I’ve decided against the things that do not resonate with me, which is most of it. This may very well mean this space will have to evolve into something else, but for now I’m happy to connect with people in a way that feels somewhat natural though it does involve the very technology and social media that I just now protested. It’s a complicated world and a strange time to try to fit into it in an organic way that embraces long held values, addresses fears, and is done in an effort to try to share in an authentic and positive way, but this is what I’m working towards. I guess this is just a meandering way of saying what Shakespeare said so succinctly: “Though this be madness, yet there is method in ’t.” Hamlet (2.2.204-09).

Thank you, very sincerely, for being a part of my world and allowing me to be part of yours. You are a true gift and a treasure.

All the best to you and yours.

Gum Recession

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Between gum disease, grinding teeth at night, and possibly brushing too hard (though that cause is up for debate), gum recession is incredibly common. It generally shows up after age 40, though it most likely started years earlier. It’s a slow, gradual process which can eventually lead to tooth loss, so it’s no small matter. Depending on how far along the recession is, a dentist may do a deep cleaning that involves cleaning below the gum line, which is different than just the normal twice a year cleaning, or suggest a mouth guard to stop grinding teeth at night. There doesn’t seem to be a modern medicine option for actually rebuilding the gum tissue and overall oral health, but luckily for us, there are natural products out there to help do just that.

Uncle Harry’s is a natural products company that was actually founded due to gum health concerns. You can read about that history here, or just check out their products that are based on Ayurvedic principals for keeping the mouth healthy and thriving. Their anise toothpaste is my personal favorite, but they have several flavors to choose from such as the more common flavor of peppermint. You dip your toothbrush right into the jar and the essential oils make sure that the jar of toothpaste stays free of bacteria, viruses, and germs of all sorts. The toothpastes help the mouth keep a proper alkaline pH, have no sweeteners or fluoride, and naturally fight gum disease while offering the gums and teeth herbs and essential oils that build them up. They also have a powder to help soothe sore gums called Inflamed Gums, with numbing and healing herbs and essential oils in it.

Another great company, Herb Pharm, has a mouthwash called Gum Guardian that is full of gum healing and building herbs. Use this after brushing and flossing, just as you would a conventional mouthwash, though this one is more medicinal in nature. It’s an extract so you have to just add a dropperful to a small amount of water to swish it around.

Wishgarden Herbs has a Gum Strengthener that can also be used as a mouthwash, but alternatively it can be massaged directly into problem areas. If the whole mouth is a problem area, it can be administered all over with a toothbrush. Another similar product is by Herbs Etc and is called Mouth Tonic which has great reviews. Actually all these herbal extracts have great reviews and all are quite similar in terms of the herbs used (read the ingredients lists and count how many times you see Myrrh), so you can’t really go wrong.

Before going any further I should say that vitamin C is the most important vitamin for gum recession issues. Most people get enough vitamin C in their daily diet and possibly a multivitamin, but a little extra doesn’t hurt when fighting any kind of disease or infection. Just something to keep in mind.

Oil pulling is a technique from Ayurveda that seems to be growing in popularity. It involves swishing sesame oil or coconut oil in one’s mouth for 10-20 minutes, then spitting it out. To be honest, I’ve not tried this yet because the thought of holding the oil in my mouth that long doesn’t seem appealing when there are herbs in extract form that will aid oral health in an easier way, but then again I generally always choose the herbal options. To each his own though so if you try it, or currently do it in your oral health regimen, let me know because I want to hear about it! Here’s a good article on how to do it if you need instructions.

Green tea is known for its many benefits from its antioxidants to its fat burning properties, and one more benefit is oral health. Drinking just one cup of green tea a day is enough to increase the health of gums and mouth. Green tea is so versatile, you can add it to your skincare products, drink it for a multitude of health benefits, and add the room temperature tea bags to your eyes for help with puffiness and dark circles.

I just love how the natural world so quietly and competently has so many options for improving our health and daily life. Long before “there’s an app for that” became the modern mantra, “there’s an herb for that” prevailed, and still does, but you often have to look beyond the noisy world to find the right ones for you. There are always options so don’t let an ‘incurable’ condition such as anxiety or hair loss get you down.

Happy Summer and please subscribe for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share with anyone who might benefit from this article.

 

 

Brain Health

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While creating a mini-course on adaptogens, I’ve been thinking about putting together a blend focused on brain health for my sons who are students and will be for many more years. The adaptogenic herbs I’m thinking of including are Ashwagandha, Tulsi, Gotu Kola, and Rhodiola. This would be a great mix for long-term energy and stamina, with herbs specifically targeting brain health, focus, and stress management, with anti-depressant and anti-anxiety action. This seems like an optimal mix for a student, or for anyone looking for long-term brain support. As we age it is especially important to make sure our brains get the best nutrition and care we can provide. No one else can do it for you~ this is self care at a fundamental level.

Here is an infographic from Delicious Living that has other ways to improve brain health on a daily basis. These tips are not only good for brain health but overall health and wellness in general, and they really aren’t hard. It’s a nice reminder of how eating more fruits and vegetables, reducing stress, exercising, and consciously limiting toxins improve every part of daily life. I’ve been thinking lately how the ripple effects of our thoughts and actions can be either be beneficial and building a better future, or damaging. It’s hard to always choose wisely, but self care can never be detrimental.

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Nutritious foods don’t have to be boring. The New Hope Blogger Box has some foods this time around that make superfoods snackable and drinkable. This Beet Latte from Raw and Root has goji and maqui berries along with the beet root to make this a deeply nourishing addition to any daily diet. This combination offers support for energy, heart health, weight loss, and more. Check out their website to see all the benefits of these three superfoods. This powder is going in my morning smoothies.

This dried Dragon Fruit from Jungle Orchards  has only 6g of sugars per package, plus 2g of protein. Dragon fruit is considered a superfood for its many benefits without the excessive sugar that many fruits have, especially dried fruits. This would make a great healthy snack for kids’ lunch bags when you want to send them off with extra fruit but not extra sugar. To learn more about the many benefits of dragon fruit (it was all new to me!) then check out this article which talks about weight loss, lowering cholesterol, improving energy, and more.

Avocado is delicious but has the one overwhelming flaw of being seriously high maintenance when it comes to catching its perfect ripeness, and also you can’t take an avocado anywhere without bruising. These freeze-dried avocados from Senor Avocado take the guesswork out of avocado ripening and they are fully transportable so lunch boxes can carry them. The healthy fats are still there, and the taste is the same as a fresh, but the texture is slightly different so no avocado toast with these. Instead, throw them on salads or soups, or just eat them as a snack or as part of healthy meal. There are different flavors but I really liked these Peruvian Pink Salt ones.

Enjoy the upcoming Memorial weekend (for those here in the U.S.) and be sure to take good care of yourself with some healthy delicious foods, some fun activities, and plenty of rest. Your body and brain will thank you for it. Please subscribe for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share with anyone who might benefit from this article.

Make Your Own Natural Perfumes Course

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If you are an email subscriber to this blog, you should have received an email from me inviting you to take my new course on making natural perfumes with essential oils for free. Thank you to all of you who have responded so far! If you follow this blog through the wordpress reader though, I do not have your email to offer you the same coupon code, but I’d still love for you to check it out and if you are interested in taking the course and giving me feedback (because this is a new format for me so I’m in a learning phase myself) I’d love to hear from you. Just contact me through my contact page with your email address and I’ll send you a free class coupon code. Here’s the course page with a promo video to help you decide if you’d like to try it out or not.

https://botanical-alchemy-and-apothecary.teachable.com/p/make-your-own-natural-perfumes-with-essential-oils

Have a great weekend and contact me with any questions you might have about taking the course. I love hearing from you! Please subscribe for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share this with anyone who might be interested.

 

Announcement for Subscribers

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Hello! I’ve been working on putting together an essential oil course and wanted to let you know that it is about finished, so please expect an email from me in the next day or two. I wanted to thank my subscribers for being here, and also was hoping for some feedback from you lovelies, so the email will include a discount code to view the course for free. There will be a limited number (because I assume not all of you will choose to take the course) so if you are definitely interested, please let me know so I can get you the information first. You can preview the course on my page “Courses” on this website.  Thank you for reading this blog and being part of this community!

DIY Bath Salts Mother’s Day Gift

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What mom doesn’t treasure her bath and beauty time? Whether you are making a gift basket for your mom as an adult, or helping little ones make gifts for your partner, natural DIY pampering gifts are easy to make and will actually be used and appreciated. If you are working with little ones, essential oils need to be handled with care because they are so potent they should not be put on the skin directly without a carrier, and also the scents can be overwhelming if you are using a lot all at once.

To make a custom jar of bath salts, you have some options. You can use sea salt, Epsom salts, pink, grey, or black salt depending on where you are and what you fancy. Epsom salts are best known for aches and pains, but pink and grey salts can help with those too, and they have a high mineral content. Sea salt and black salt are detoxifying, and all the salts are good for the skin. You can also blend different salts together if you can’t decide or want to make sure you cover all the salt benefits. Whatever salts you use, just fill a jar with them, and add the essential oils you want in a ratio of about 10-25 drops per cup, depending on how strong you want the smell. Mix with a chopstick and cap tightly.

To make it a moisturizing bath soak, you can almond oil or grapeseed oil to the salts slowly, mixing the blend as you pour. You will want about 1 3/4 cup salts, with 1/4 cup oil. When the oil and salts are all blended together, add your essential oils and stir some more to make sure everything is evenly distributed. Since this is a total of 2 cups, you can use 20-50 drops of essential oils.

If you are making this for someone who takes more showers than baths, then a salt scrub is another option. You want more oil than salt in that case~ 2 cups of almond or grapeseed oil, 1 cup of fine sea salt, and 20-50 drops of essential oils. You can always make an herbal oil first, then add that to the salts. Add the oil directly on top of the salt, then add the essential oils and stir well. You can use sugar instead of salt for a gentler body scrub. Prepare the exact same way as the salt but use brown sugar instead.

Another option is to add dried herbs to the salts. This of course looks lovely but can make a huge mess, so adding a large sized muslin bag or two to the jar of bath salts is a nice touch. The bather can spoon in however much they want into the muslin bag, then place it into the bath for a nice soak that they don’t have to worry about cleaning up later. Lovely herbs to add are rose petals, calendula flower tops, seaweed, and/or oats. The proportions are completely up to you, and in fact you can just use herbs for an herbal bath without any salts, or just add the salts and herbs together, or add essential oils to the mix as well. There are no hard and fast rules, so just follow your aesthetic sense or look to your (or her) favorite products to get an idea of what proportions might be most appreciated.

As always, be sure to label whatever you make and to write down the recipe. Here are some more DIY gift ideas if bathing isn’t the best treat for your gift recipient. Have fun with whatever you are making and Happy Mother’s Day to all the hard working mamas out there. Please subscribe for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share with anyone who might benefit from this article.

Sleep Help

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It feels funny to write about natural sleep aids because that’s the last thing on my mind right now. I just got back from South Carolina and thought the jet lag was causing me to be so fatigued but then my nose started running, my throat started hurting, and a headache joined in the party. I wasn’t too surprised because my husband is so sick he had to get antibiotics on our trip so the germs were in the air, and I didn’t have my arsenal of essential oils, herbs, and homeopathy along with me. For the record, I took Boiron’s oscillococcinum for two days (three doses per day) and have also been taking Herb Pharm’s Rapid Immune Boost plus some extra vitamin C. I’m also making up a batch of kitchari as I type this. Is it just me or do these colds and flues get worse every single year?

But, like so many people, I do have sleep issues from time to time, and have many friends who suffer from insomnia on a regular basis. We’ve all heard the advice of going to bed at the same time every night, only using the bedroom for sleeping, not watching TV right before sleep, avoiding caffeine in the evening, etc, but those efforts can be enhanced with herbs, essential oils, and other natural supplements. It’s important to look at what exactly the sleep issue is, whether it’s falling asleep, waking in the night and having trouble going back to sleep, or simply not feeling rested in the morning with no clear understanding of why. If there is an underlying medical reason, such as sleep apnea or prescription medication, then a doctor needs to help, so be sure to discuss sleep at a doctor visit even if it seems unrelated. Here are some things to try for general sleep problems.

First of all, take your calcium/magnesium supplement at night. Vitamins are best taken right after breakfast, but minerals, especially cal/mag, should be taken right before bedtime because they aid muscle relaxation and sleep, which is why they can be found in many sleep formulas that combine herbs and minerals. One of my herbal teachers said that in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), calcium and magnesium are the first things given to patients seeking help for their sleep.

Adaptogens help regulate sleep just as they help regulate energy throughout the day. Ashwagandha is the adaptogenic herb most commonly used in sleep preparations that help with sleeping through the night. It is not necessarily an herb to help you relax like nervines, Kava, Passionflower, or Valerian, (more about those below), but it will help with overall energy levels being regulated correctly with sustained energy throughout the day, and deep sleep throughout the night. Adaptogens in general help regulate the adrenal system and therefore hormones, and also aid in easing stress, depression, and anxiety, all of which can cause sleep problems. Tulsi is my personal favorite adaptogen right now and I’ve been taking it by putting a 1/2 teaspoon in my cup of coffee. I also put a combination of adaptogens in my breakfast smoothie, but I like the grassy taste of the Tulsi so much that I take it separately.

For help with relaxing before bedtime, nervines are the class of herbs that assist with body and mind relaxation. Skullcap can help turn off racing and repetitive thoughts, while Valerian is the most sedative of the group. Passionflower and Hops are good relaxers as well, and Kava is known to not only relax but to also impart feelings of euphoria. There are plenty of bedtime teas, tinctures, and pills with mixtures of these herbs, so finding the right herb or herbal combination for you can be looked at as an experimental challenge. If one herb or combination leaves you feeling cloudy or sleepy in the morning, try something a little less sedative and more regulating, such as an adaptogen based supplement.

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Fun herbal sleep fact~ Mugwort has traditionally been used to increase the vividness of dreams, and even can help with lucid dreaming. Taking it as a tea before bed, burning it as an incense, or making Mugwort pillows are all ways that the herb has been used for enhanced dreaming. (Please don’t fall asleep with anything actively burning.)

Melatonin should not leave anyone feeling ‘foggy’ in the morning because it really just helps one fall asleep, not stay asleep. It helps with jet lag as well and is most effective in a liquid or lozenge form. In fact, any time you can bypass your digestive system by taking any supplement in a liquid or sublingual form of any sort, the more likely you are to get all the benefits of the supplement, because most of us do not have digestive systems in optimal condition, plus those systems are often already busy with meals and such. This is one reason why herbal products are so commonly made in tea and extract forms. Melatonin is not an herb, but it is the same idea.

GABA can help relax the mind before bed if anxiety is causing sleeplessness. It is sometimes found in sleep supplements that have combinations of herbs and other helpful ingredients such as Utzzz’s Stay Asleep formula.

Working from the outside, essential oils can be a big help in relaxing the mind and preparing the body for a restful sleep. Lavender is the most used essential oil and it has relaxing qualities, but it is not the only relaxing essential oil by a long shot. Any herb that is traditionally used for its sedative qualities, such as Chamomile or Hops, will also have those qualities in the essential oil. Neroli has strong anti-anxiety qualities, so much so that the blossoms used to be in bridal bouquets for that very reason. The various wood essential oils, such as Cedar and Sandalwood are grounding, which is a good thing for sleep time. Aura Cacia has nice blends to help you relax, such as Pillow Potion and Tranquility. You can drop a couple of drops of essential oil on your pillow or if you bathe or shower at night, drop about 7 drops of essential oils into the bath or fling a few drops to the back of your shower wall. If you have a diffuser, adding a few drops of essential oil in your bedroom before bed works wonders.

You can also make an oil to rub on your body before bed, or it could be used in a bath 772A2685-3271-4BC2-8E93-7643A6C44649[1]instead of the straight essential oils. Rubbing perfumed oil on your body after a bath or shower is the best time to seal in moisture and get the most from the scents used. Relaxing essential oils can also be made into a body and/or room spray for a lighter touch to the scenting.

There is no reason to suffer through sleep problems without looking at all the natural options out there. Take care of your sleep, just as you take care of your diet and exercise, for optimal health and wellness. Sweet Dreams and please subscribe for weekly posts about herbs, natural health, and green beauty, and please share with anyone who might benefit from this article.