Sleeping Aides

[Shadowmeld]

On occasion I often find myself getting little episodes of insomnia. Normally to remedy this I brew up some valarian root, about a teaspoon or two to a cup of boiling water (someone once brought me a cup to make fresh coffee in that has a filter you push down to the bottom keep the coffee grinds out of your mouth which I use for making herbal drinks and what not in instead) and then half an hour or so later I find myself feeling tired and am able to sleep.

However I have two problems with my usual method. The first is that when I take valarian root I find myself having the most vivid dreams that can quite frankly scare the sh*t out of me, and I awake in the morning soaked in a cold sweat. I know that dreams can't hurt you, but in that brief moment after waking up and the dream still lurking it can be hard to try and figure out what has really happened and what hasn't, especially as I am often "triggered" out of sleep by a stimulous that occurs in the real world and in my dream. (My cat has the most annoying habbit of licking my hair whilst I sleep, but he licks the same space over and over until it is sodden, the one time i remember feeling something wet on my face in a dream and then woke up to find the cat still licking my hair and my forehead moist with kitten spit. See how that could be confusing having the end of the dream overlap with the beginning of being awake?)

The other problem is that I have no valarian root. I'd take the confusing and disturbing dreams anyday over not sleeping. At least when I've established it was a dream it's fine, and besides, that deffinately means I was asleep!

So does anyone know of any other methods that could work? Or even of a way to combat the side effects for when I get stocked up.

I know that lack of sleep is usually an indication of something and that should be addressed first and foremost, however, my life is no more stressful than it usually is, I do drink alot of caffiene, if I don't get a cup of tea the is a very good chance that I could die, but I've always been drank alot of tea and coffee, recently I have infact cut down. I get regular exercise and as for my diet, I don't eat crap, I'd much rather have a peice of fruit than a packet or crisps or a chocolate bar, and I believe that frozen ready meals and anything loaded with artifitial colourings, flavourings, preservatives and all those other things that are about as far from being food as can possibly be are infact the modern embodiment of evil and therefore do not eat them.

There isn't anything I can think of that is causing my sleeplessness so does anyone have a favourite method for drifting off?

[Draighnean]

Cheers for the insight on the remedy! For me, usually a night cap of Tullamore Dew does the job.

[Heathen1]

I use lemon balm. I am more sensitive to drugs of any type, but I have spoken to others and it works, a whole cup of LB tea will make me sleep for 10 hours! So I'd think that would be perfect for someone not sensitive. It's also a minor antidepressant and has never seemed to affect my dreams at all. The only drawback to lemon balm is that it seems to lose it's efficacy in about 3 days, but if you stop using it for afew days then come back it works again.

[swin]

I use soft amber. I put a small amount (and i mean small because it is quite expensive) onto my palms rub it in and and then just gently rub it into my face so i can smell it I don't use it every night only when i am having problems sleeping. Usually a cup of good old hot cocoa works for me

[sarasuperid]

This might be too light of an aid, but I find some lavender relaxes me. I gather a lot of it and pull the flowers off the top for making face potions and other things. And then with the stems I wrap them up tight in sticks for lighting for incense. It is much nicer than commercial lavender incense (which I think smells like pee) and make me feel tired and relaxed.

A also like lemon balm and chamomile tea for getting me relaxed and tired.

[naimh]

I have used valarian, but I actually find lavender and chamomile to be more effective in sending me off but not keeping me there, which is, I find more desirable as I am a prolific dreamer and like you valarian give me some humdingers.

I've mostly been avoiding herbal sleep remedies of late and using mantric chants, bizzarely the one I find works best isn't even a chant at all but something out of a scifi book. Hehehe it is the bengeserit litany against fear from Dune, very new age I know, but it works, perhaps you could find a favourite peice of prose or poetry you could quietly recite in a similar manner.

[Lolair]

Valerian can be addictive and it builds up in your system - meaning you may need larger and larger amounts the more you take it, and you simply can't take larger amounts because then an almost harmless sleep aid turns into a deadly poison...

There are other alternatives - some you may respond well to, others not at all, other may have other results, but not make you sleepy. On a sale from lightest to heaviest:

chamomile, lavender, balm > scullcap, catnip, passionflower > cannabis > valerian leaf, woodruff

Here is a recipe to smoke called Yoruba Gold, effects similar to cannabis, but all ingredients are legal and haaf are commonly used to treat nervous conditions such as insomnia and restlessness - healthiest smoked in a water pipe, but rolled like a cigarette will do:

4 parts damiana leaf
4 parts scullcap
1/4 part lobelia
4 parts passion flower
1 part spearmint leaf

A similar recipe to smoke with more sedative herbs:

4 parts scullcap
4 parts passion flower
4 parts catnip
1 part spearmint

If the insomnia becomes a big issue and a distraction from normal functioning than I would suggest seeking a professional. If you know your GP will only prescribe pharmaceutical sleep aids and you don't want that, then seek a professional herbalist, naturopath or a practitioner of Easter medicine.
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[Lolair]

oops *scale from lightest to heaviest*
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[53rdspirit]

LOL!--your cat!

Reading a book in bed with hot cocoa (as swin suggested), but I add a lot of milk since, I think, warm milk promotes sleep (and with all the milk, maybe your cat will lap the milk instead of you). My grandmother used to always drink a "hot toddy" before retiring. *bleech* the taste--I can't drink valarian!

KTBH,
53rd
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[Mnemosyne]

Hi Shadow,

This is an exercise you may find difficult, but if not, it is a way I get to sleep sometimes, and it is also a tool that can be used for other things.

Try closing your eyes, if you are like me you may immediately start talking yourself to insanity lol. So shut that voice up, for me that was probably one of the hardest things about this, but if you meditate you may be better at it than I am.

Then, stare at the back of your lids, watch them closely, don't will anything to happen, just watch until you start seeing shapes, keep watching, tag those shapes, see what they turn into, continue watching until you end up with scenes being played out in front of you..when you get to the point where you are watching these scenes you are pretty much in between.

There is a lot you can do at this point, one of the things might be to just watch until you get deeper and deeper into the scenes/images and just drift completely into sleep.

I have used this method most of my life and it works very well for me. However, I do know a lot of people that are just not able to make it work.

But, try it if you want, who knows.

Mel
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[emogen]

I dont smoke Damiana but i do burn it on charcoal and it has the same effect . I mostly use it as a divination aid. But it does leave one very mellow after.
Otherwise lavender is great - also good for headaches, if mixed with peppermint. Also a tea made from Hops - tinctures work well too. Or St Johns Wort - not one of my favourites but i do know of others who swear by it.
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[Shadowmeld]

Cheers

It's not bad enough for me to require a GP its not every night im up all hours, just the occasional one here and there.

Lolair, you said that Valerian builds up in your system and can become poisonous. I was just wondering how you know this?

I have a copy of culpeppers colour herbal and in there it lists it as having "no side effects" personally I would count poisoning you as quite a serious side effect.

And Sarasuperid, as for the lavender, I find the aroma to be very calming myself, when I used to sit my exams my grandad used to give me a hankerchief that he had put lavender and rosemary into to help keep me calm through my exams! Thankfully Lavander isn't strong enough to put me down, but if you ask me, there is no such things as "too light an aid" now clearly there is such a thing, but I think you should always try to find the easiest and lightest method for doing anything because the human body is a bugger for adapting and becomg resilliant to all sorts of things!

Oh and Mel... do you have an advice on how to make the voice in your head stop talking things at you?

[Mnemosyne]

I just tell it to watch instead, change the focus.
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[Lolair]

[ThomasRhymer]

Funny, I just took 3 valerian capsules before logging in here ...

Couple years ago I would actually combine lemon balm with valerian root in a night-time tea. But only on days where I either slept in or whatever ... just something to send me to sleep quicker if I thought I would be up all night otherwise. Like to avoid the over the counter sleep-aides, but sometimes I would take those too ...