Three Essential Soothing Herbs for Great Sleep… and More

Most people in this day and age don’t sleep well but here are three simple herbs that can help in great ways. These three herbs can be take separately or they can be taken in a mixture for a better nights rest.

Chamomile – This herb goes all the way back to Egypt in the 1500‘s, then by the Greeks and then the Romans, they even called it “Roman Chamomile” and it was also used as incense, so it has been used successfully for hundreds years for stress, sleep, and many more challenges. This mild herb taken in the form of tea or in capsules helps is wonderful ways to relax, create peace, and help a person de-stress from the day.

Chamomile tea can become a ritual that creates a break for the weary mind and allows the stressed out traveler of the busy world time to detox, chilling out, thus allowing contentment to filter in. Chamomile has been around for years and has been used successfully by many generations to peaceful, relaxing, and calm states of mind.

Chamomile is also great for PMS, wound healing, and it also fights off invading bacteria and viruses. Plus in studies it was found that chamomile stopped the progression of diabetes and it seems to have some cancer fighting abilities too. At the same time it is great for soothing the GI tract, helping with IBS… and other digestion challenges.

Passion Flower – This herb was used by the Aztecs and Incan natives and was  harvested and used in medicinal ways and as a cash crop, so it has been around for hundreds of years and has been used in rituals and for relaxing for a very long time.  From there the Spanish took it to Europe where it became a huge hit, thus people started growing it for it’s beautiful flowers and also for it’s relaxing sedating qualities.

Passion flower tea helps with insomnia, drinking some passion flower tea 45 minutes before bedtime helps to sooth away the day and makes life much more relaxed thus helping with anxiety. Passion flower tea and capsules also helps with high blood pressure, PMS, anxiety, stress, and even ADHD.

Passion flower promotes the production of gamma-aminobutyric acid in the brain to end anxiety. Studies done at the University of Maryland proved that passion flower is just as effective as prescription anxiety medications.

Passion flower studies at the University of Washington School of Medicine found that it had the ability to lower cortisol which is one of the stress hormones thus helping to relieves stress and side effects such as weight gain… and other studies show it can help with seizures.

Studies published in the Journal of Psychiatry showed that people taking anti-anxiety medications had almost a 40% higher chance of dying because they were taking these medication. Not so with passion flower, which has a proven record of working well for all kinds of anxiety.

Hops – This herb has been around as long as beer, going all the way back to the 12th century. In Europe people picking hops would fall asleep, and that’s because hops contains methybutenol which is great for sleep.

In fact in Europe hops are routinely given in capsules and in teas for inducing sleep, anxiety, and stress. And the combination of valerian and hops has been recognized in many medical journals as one of the best combinations around… and other than valerian hops is the best sleep inducing herb that you can find. Lupulin is the sleep inducing group of compounds found in hops… and those compounds are found in the oils.

Hops also contains plant based estrogen and helps to balance out hormones for those suffering from PMS and it can also help with menopause. Hops tea is somewhat bitter so it’s best to add a little honey or sweetener of your choice. Plus hops oil is a well known food preservative… and it also has great antibacterial qualities.

Hops can also be used in pillows to induce sleep, and there are new companies making hops pillows. Also the Native Americans used hopes for arthritis because it’s also anti-inflammatory, relieves pain, and works well for kidney inflammation and pain… and GI problems. In India hops are used for indigestion, headaches, sleep induction, tension relief, and as a good antibacterial agent.

Plus compounds found in hops lowers blood sugar and help with insulin resistant diabetes.

Herbs are great but it’s always best to find out why you are not sleeping in the first place… and then make changes in your lifestyle so you can sleep.

All these wonderful herbs can be ordered on-line or found at your local health food store.

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Dr. Paul Haider – Master Herbalist, Counselor, and Spiritual Advisor for over 20 years, helping people to recover and feel healthy. You can also find Dr. Haider on FB under Dr. Paul Haider, Healing Herbs, Center for Creative Living Church, Meditation for the Soul, and Relax Into Success, Punjab teas. www.paulhaider.com