THE HERB CORNER
Herbal Sleep Options and Sleep Hygiene for a Pandemic
time will really help. 1 tablet for every 75 pounds of body weight.”
BY TOMWOLFE, RH/AHG AND SUSANWOLFE
Herbs To Fall Asleep If you have trouble falling asleep, if you lie in bed wishing and hoping for the sandman to come and take you away, then these are the herbs for you! • Passion Flower • Skullcap • Valerian • Hops • Chamomile • Lavender • Banyan Botanicals I Sleep Soundly Formula With respect to the Sleep Soundly Formula, Tom says, “This is the best one found thus far for helping to fall immediately asleep. Some of the other formulas have more umph for staying asleep throughout he night, but if all you need is to fall asleep, this is your herbal combination.” [Herbal Note: The individual herbs listed are available in capsules, tinc- tures and extracts with a good rule of thumb being to take one 500 mg (mil- ligram) capsule per 75 pounds of body weight as a baseline and then figure out the best dosing for your unique- ness. The tincture equivalent would be two milliliters (2ml) to one 500-milli- gram capsule.] Herbs To Stay Asleep/Get Deeper Sleep For some, our exhaustion from the day means we fall asleep with ease, but then we awaken in the middle of the night due to dehydration, urination, or anxieties in our subconscious that surface in our dreaming state. Then the struggle becomes getting deep sleep, or enough quality sleep. For these is- sues, we enlist these herbal allies:
The twentieth century is, among other things, the Age of Noise. Physical noise, mental noise, and noise of desire—we habitually hold history’s record for all of them. And no wonder, for all the resources of our almost miraculous technology have been thrown into the current assault against Silence. That most popular of all inventions, the television is nothing but a conduit through which pre-fabricated din can flow into our homes. And this goes far deeper, of course, than the eyes and eardrums. It penetrates the mind, filling it with a babble of distractions—news items, mutually irrelevant bits of information, blasts of continually repeated doses of drama that bring no catharsis, but merely create a craving for daily or even hourly emotional enemas. ~ Excerpt from The Perennial Philoso- phy , by Aldous Huxley (1945) Enjoying a perfectly sound sleep un- disturbed by dreams is a most essential and invaluable factor in preserving good health. Every day when you are in deep sleep, you enter into the most original [Beyond, Beyond] state of God, where nothing exists. Every person is in search of Union with God and enters the state during deep sleep. ~ Meher Baba Well, Pathways readers, here we are, a year into a stressor like no other in our lifetimes—a stressor in addition to all the other stressors people face in our busy and overstressed society. How are you sleeping? We’ve struggled with sleep this year; most people probably have. Fromwhat we can tell from asking our Friends in herbal and other forms of clinical work, almost everyone has struggled with sleep in the past 12 months. There is so much to process, and it is so easy to stay anxious and over stimulated, so we thought we would share some herbal remedies and self-care strate- gies that have really helped us. We are confident something here will work for you, too. Herbs For Stress and Better Sleep Stress can lead to poor sleep. This is not news, of course. But what can we do about it? Dealing with our stress, and making new habits, takes time. And let’s face it; sometimes things come up that really throw us. So in those moments, what can we do to help ourselves get the deep, refreshing sleep we need?
Holy Basil, A Herb For Stress and Better Sleep
Let’s start with the stress itself. Herbs are so amazing, there is a whole category of them that help our bodies adapt better to stress. They are called adaptogens, and they are amazing herbs! These herbs are best taken every day for a longer period of time to get the best effect: • Ashwagandha Tom says, “[Ashwagandha is] my favorite herb as a lead in to better sleep. My best results have been to take 1,500 mg capsule for every 100 pounds of body weight every half hour be- ginning 2 hours before sleep. In other words, I take 2 capsules every half hour for 200 pounds of body weight beginning two hours before sleep. This helps every time but is not always enough for deep sleep through the en- tire might. For that, see the combina- tions below: I Sleep Soundly (Banyan Botanicals), Sleep Thru (Gaia Herbs) , Bupleurum Calmative Compound (Planetary Herbs)and Zyflamend PM
(New Chapter). • Holy Basil/Tulsi • Schisandra • Eleuthero/Siberian Ginseng
Then there are the soothing nervines. These are herbs you can take long term, or in some cases for short-term relief. They help us to stay calm and balanced. • Skullcap • Oats • Lemon Balm • Kava-Kava • Planetary Herbs Bupleurum Calm- ative Compound Of the Calmative Compound, Su- san says, “It is particularly effective for hormonal mood swings, and is also helpful for general stress and to pre- vent panic attacks. If circling thoughts are contributing to your trouble falling asleep, taking this one hour before bed-
• Ashwagandha • Valerian • Bhringaraj
• Effective compounds: New Chap- ter Zyflamend Formula (Zyflamend Whole Body, but especially Zyflamend PM) and Gaia Herbs Sleep Thru For- mula Tom says, “Zyflamend is the mid- dle road between I Sleep Soundly and Sleep Thru for sleeping the entire night. 1 for every 100 pounds of body continued on page 11
PATHWAYS—Spring 21—9
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