Insomnia.

Problems: 

Newsgroups: alt.folklore.herbs
Subject: Re: Insomnia
From: moza.butterfly.mv.com (Almoza)
Date: Mon, 11 Mar 1996 21:26:14 GMT

> What else could I take for insomnia?

"If you take one tablespoonful of honey at the evening meal each day, you will soon discover that you are beginning actually to look forward to bedtime, and it may even become difficult to banish a feeling of drowsiness when for social reasons you may be up later than usual."

"If you find the one tablespoonful at the evening meal not quite enough to produce sound sleep....then make a mixture of three teaspoonfuls of apple cider vinegar to a cup of honey, and keep it on the night table in a wide-mouthed bottle or jar which will admit a teaspoon. Two teaspoonfuls of the mixture should be taken when you are preparing for bed. If you don't fall asleep within an hour, you will want to take two teaspoonfuls more. You can continue doing this at intervals of an hour for as long as necessary, but except for special circumstances you would probably not find more than two doses needful." - Folk Medicine, D.C. Jarvis, MD

Hope this helps.


From: tnkrbelle0.aol.com (Tnkrbelle0)

A strong decotion of chamomille tea, with a teaspoon of honey should definitely do the trick. I lived in Italy for 5 years, and was in the hospital twice, once with pleurisy and once for a c-section. It is the hospital policy to only serve chamomile tea after 7PM. Made really strong, it works. Have also made lettuce tea, yes, lettuce! for my children with some results. One cup boiling water poured over one cup grated lettuce, steep for 30 minutes. Drain and drink. Usually works in about 20 minutes. And you might try focusing on each part of your body from feet up to head and forcing them to relax and go limp. You should be asleep by the time you finish.


From: gsz.bbcnc.org.uk (George Szaszvari)

>>What else could I take for insomnia? Anything else I could by at the herbal store?
>Make yourself a hops dream pillow. Drink a relaxing tea, maybe made with chamomile, valerian, peppermint. Meditate.

I use, according to circumstances, etc, any combination of the following:

  1. oregano and basil (on, say, a sandwich filling.) An oregano tea is possible, too.
  2. hawthorn. This regulates the pulse. I quite like the *Sleepy Time* tea (from Colorado) that includes hawthorn, chamomile, and other herbs with a sedative effect, but I also take hawthorn berries in tablet form before retiring to bed.
  3. a bottle of wine, but this should not be resorted to on too regular a basis.
  4. appropriately relaxing music at a low volume.

PS Should you have a noisy environment (like I have in London) then wax earplugs can help.