Using Herbs to Treat Your Insomnia

This article will not discuss pharmaceutical medications for insomnia. That's because you don't probably need medicating. Insomnia is not a medical disease, although the pharmaceutical companies are working on turning it into one, so prescriptions for their drugs can be covered by insurance and overprescribed to anyone who misses a few nights of sleep. The fact is, most people can cure insomnia by changing their diet, their routines and their mental acrobatics. But if you're caught in a cycle of daily exhaustion followed by nightly insomnia, you may be able to break the cycle with herbs, food or movement.

There are dozens of herbs that can help ease insomnia to varying degrees. If you want something basic that works very well and doesn't cost a fortune, valerian tablets or capsules are available at any health food store and many supermarkets. You may find them combined with skullcap, passion flower or hops, which are also herbs known for their properties of relaxation. Any time you buy an herbal supplement, read the label to make sure you're getting a high concentration and very little of other stuff. Some companies are making herbal supplements with very little of the active herb in them, but bulking them up with fillers and other non-essential ingredients. Oftentimes, these same companies are charging big bucks for cutesy bottles.

One caution about herbs is that they are effective, and they may interact with prescribed medicines you're already taking. Have your pharmacist check on potential interaction effects before you take any over-the-counter supplements. It's no joke: Some herbs, mixed with other drugs, can do you harm. So do your homework.

The medical establishment has kept a tight hold on medications, so herbs often aren't allowed to say on the bottle what they are supposed to do. If they do, they may be terrifically vague. Do your homework online or with a good reference book from the library before deciding which herbals to take.

On reading my very effective herbal relaxant, whose label says only "To aid in the relief of nervousness" I see each tablet has 100 mg of skullcap, 50 of hops and 50 of valerian, a 4:1 root extract equal to 200 mg of raw herb. For me, I found this combination worked better than straight valerian tablets, and I've given some to my friends who also find it works. It's a mark of this remedy that I've only needed to use it once in awhile-a bottle of 100 tablets cost less than $12 and I still have most of it.

Herbs for Menopause or Peri-Menopause

Black cohosh is the gold standard in menopause herbs. It can alleviate hot flashes and help stabilize hormones, which can improve your sleep immeasurably. Some women have found a remedy in Angelica, which goes by the name of Dong Quai in Traditional Chinese Medicine. If menopause is also assailing you with psychological symptoms such as anxiety or depression, you may find some help in taking valerian (for anxiety) or St. John's Wort (for depressive symptoms).

If you're not going with the medical establishments Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), you may also want to consider adding some soy to your diet. Soy contains plant estrogens that can stand in for the estrogens your body may be missing. The most palatable forms of soy are probably the soymilks, available in various flavors.

Herb Teas or Tisanes

Other relaxing herbs include chamomile, rose, lemon balm and passion flower. You can find these all in herbal teas or in tablets. In fact, it may not need to be a known herbal relaxant to make you feel relaxed: scents and flavors that make you feel warm and happy can have the same effect. Cinnamon in a cup of hot water is warming, and there's something about the flavor that reminds many of us of happy childhood times-the taste of coffee cake or sugar cookies, perhaps. I sometimes drink plain water or soymilk with a teaspoon of vanilla extract, which I find soothing. Peppermint, spearmint and catmint teas, often thought of as energizing, calm the stomach and promote digestion, which can help you fall asleep. Fennel makes a soothing, caffeine-free tea, as well. If you don't want to take tablets, try a cup or two of hot herbal tea.

While using herbs to calm down and get to sleep, you can also use herbs in the daytime to energize you without giving you that nervy edge typically associated with caffeine. 5-HTP (Hydroxytryptophan), a component of an amino acid does double-duty, helping you sleep at night and metabolizing into serotonin-a known mood-lifter-by morning. 5-HTP, despite its scary name, is extracted from a plant called Griffonia simplicifolia, an African shrub. You can get it in the health food stores, and while the tablets we have say to take three a day, my husband finds that one, taken at night, works just fine for him. Our bodies are all different: you may not need as strong a concentration of an herb as someone else, but it's good sense not to use that as an excuse to take more than is recommended on the label.

Hydrotherapy & Aromatherapy

A warm bath is a simple insomnia remedy with a powerful effect. There's something about warm water that relaxes your muscles, lets you breathe deeply and chases away the cares of the day. For sore muscles or tension, Epsom salts will be a soothing addition and adding a few drops of essential oil to the bath can increase its relaxing powers.

Aromatherapy

Aromatherapy works by changing the way chemicals are released in your body: certain herbs are proven to change the way your organs release hormones, and hormones regulate everything from moods to hunger to sex and sleep. Aromatherapy is a great boon to relaxation, either by adding essentialoils (never "fragrance oils", which are synthetic) to your bath, by creating an aromatherapy pillow with the dried herbs or by using essential oils in a humidifier. You can blend essential oils with a carrier oil (any unscented vegetable oil) and massage them on your hands, neck or body. Even a dab of undiluted lavender oil on your wrist at bedtime can do the trick.

We're only starting to understand the ways that herbs work on the mind-body connection, but neurological research shows that herbs always thought of as "calming" really do have physical properties that work to calm the marvelous chemical cocktail that's the human being.

Lavender is the best-known relaxing essential oil, but there are dozens more with relaxing properties and it's really a personal preference: some people prefer rose, neroili or jasmine; my particular favorite for aromatherapy is patchouli.

We're all different, and what works for one person may not work for another. Experiment until you find the right preparation (tincture, tea, tablet or aromatherapy) and the right herb for you. You can visit herb websites to get a comprehensive list of the best herbs for calming, soothing, easing worry or stress and relaxing into sleep.