Insomnia can make it hard to fall asleep, hard to stay asleep, or wake you too early with no way back to sleep. It saps your energy, your mood, your work and, over time, your health. Most adults need seven to eight hours a night. I know insomnia from the inside: the hormonal shifts of menopause brought on an acute case for me, and it’s not uncommon for women after childbirth or during menopause. That stretch taught me what works and what doesn’t help much.
Herbs help, as far as they go. I keep two sleep formulas, and each has its own personality.
The First: Letting the Body Grow Drowsy
This one lets the body become drowsy and drift off. It fits some people very well, while others have found it less effective, so it’s worth trying to see whether it’s yours.
- Kava Kava, 2 parts. Long used in the South Pacific to relax the body and quiet an anxious mind.
- Valerian Root, 2 parts. A calming root long used to ease nervous tension and support restful sleep.
- Gotu Kola, 1 part. A traditional brain and nerve tonic.
- Passionflower, 1 part. Used to quiet a restless mind and support sound sleep.
- Skullcap, 1 part. One of the classic nerve-nourishing herbs.
- Lobelia, 1 part. A relaxant and antispasmodic that helps the whole body let go.
By weight, that’s 2 ounces each of Kava Kava and Valerian and 1 ounce each of the other four.
The Second: Calming the Whole Body
This one is a calming aid for the entire body, in four herbs of equal parts:
- Valerian Root, 1 part. The calming backbone of the formula.
- Blue Vervain, 1 part. A traditional relaxing nervine, long used for tension and restlessness.
- Skullcap, 1 part. Calms nervous tension without dulling the mind.
- Wood Betony, 1 part. A traditional nerve tonic that calms and strengthens the nervous system.
I’ve used this one myself to calm my restless legs. A teaspoon in water clears that crawly, restless feeling in my legs, and I find my sleep restful and unbroken when I’ve taken it before bed.
Putting Them Together
“Parts” can be any measure you like, as long as you use the same one for every herb in a formula. Make each one as a tincture: put the dry herbs in a glass jar and pour in 80-proof vodka. Once the herbs have settled, you want about 60% herb sediment on the bottom and 40% liquid on top. Shake the jar every day. The traditional timing follows the moon, from the new moon to the full moon, about two weeks. I prefer to let my extracts sit a full three months, which makes them good and strong. Then strain and bottle the liquid.
A common amount is a teaspoon in water before bed.
When It Isn’t the Nerves
Sometimes a person can’t sleep because the body is stuck in fight-or-flight. Every time they begin to doze off, the body jars them awake, as if a gunshot had gone off in the room, and the pulse races into an anxiety attack. Nervine herbs calm the anxiety, but they can’t stop the alarm signals.
My father, Dr. Carlous Mason, DSc, used Uva Ursi for patients caught in that adrenal spin. Uva Ursi isn’t a nervine at all; it’s known for supporting the kidneys and bladder. But he found it settles the sympathetic nervous system, at 6 to 8 capsules. A member of ours tried it after a night like that. An hour after taking 8 capsules he fell asleep, slept deeply for four hours, and woke calm with the anxiety gone. This isn’t something to use every night for sleep. It’s for when the body needs help shutting down the fight-or-flight response.
Other Helps for Sleep
- Keep the bowels open and moving well.
- Stop the stimulants: coffee, tea, chocolate and the like.
- Take the electronics out of the bedroom.
- Stop eating in the evening, no food after 6 PM.
- Walk barefoot outside on the grass or ground for 15 minutes a day. The earth is our best grounding rod; it pulls the built-up static electricity from the body. When the system is overloaded with static, the nerves can’t relax, shut down and allow sleep.
- Flush the liver. For me, one of the best long-term supports was liver flushing. Clearing the toxins from my system gave me several weeks of good sleep at a time.
Choosing Among the Nerve Formulas
I keep several formulas for the nerves, and each has its own personality:
- The nerve food formula: feeds and rebuilds a worn-out nervous system; my go-to for anxiety and panic.
- The general nervine: a strong calming and restorative formula for sleep, and for emotional crisis in lower daytime amounts.
- The two sleep formulas (this post): one that lets the body grow drowsy, and one that calms the whole body, restless legs included.
This is shared for educational purposes, from my own study and experience. It is not medical advice.
