Insomnia

On the recommendation of a clerk at a health food store, Amber tried a combination of all the best-known herbal sedatives, including valerian, skullcap, hops, passionflower and chamomile. She felt more relaxed in the evenings, but she still could not sleep. Desperate to save her job and perhaps her marriage, not to mention her sanity, she turned back to the barbiturates—and had to take a double dose to fall asleep. They worked, but she was groggy for hours the next morning and felt off balance all day. She tried her best to hide it, but could not avoid embarrassing moments at work, like the time she veered into the copy machine. The same day, she collided with another employee, and her file of papers went flying. Amber's boss probably thought she was hitting the bottle. And Amber feared she might become addicted to her pills as she gradually began upping the dose. Amber bravely decided to give herbs another try.

This time, she sought the advice of an herbalist who explained that the health food store clerk had indeed been on the right track. However, the 30 drops of tincture before bedtime that the clerk recommended was barely enough to begin addressing her problem. Amber started taking Saint-John's-wort, Siberian ginseng, skullcap and lots of valerian a few times a day, then an extra-large dose an hour before bedtime. It was not an easy transition going from drugs to herbs, but she felt it was worth it in the long run. Slowly, the herbs began to work their magic, and for the first time in years, she felt like she had a normal life again. And yes, both her marriage and job survived.

Have you, like Amber, ever stayed up all night counting sheep? If so, you may be able to imagine how lack of sleep diminishes the quality of life for the 20 million to 50 million people with chronic insomnia in the United States. It is important to get plenty of sleep to keep your nervous system operating smoothly.

While stress, worry or simply drinking coffee or eating just before bedtime can occasionally keep you from nodding off, chronic insomnia is another matter. It contributes to headaches, dizziness and mental confusion and eventually leads to emotional instability. Insomnia is actually a symptom of various disorders, not a disease in itself. If you suffer from more than the occasional sleepless night, you should get checked for thyroid and estrogen imbalances, low blood sugar, chronic heart and lung conditions, chronic pain and other disorders that can cause sleeplessness. You should also improve your sleeping environment: Make sure that your bed, pillow and room temperature are comfortable and that your bedroom is dark and quiet. Don't use your bed for anything except sleeping and sex—no reading or needlework!—and wait until you're sleepy before going to bed. Relaxing music, a good stretching regimen, a hot bath, a massage and deep, rhythmic breathing also help induce sleep. So do sedative herbs, which in the long run are far better for you than drugs that promote sleep.

Sleeping pills certainly provide temporary relief, but long-term use of them may have side effects such as liver damage, high blood pressure and suppressed immunity. Besides, you can all too easily become dependent on them. For most people who take sleeping pills regularly, it takes only two to three weeks before they need to up the dose. And when they try to discontinue the pills, withdrawal often becomes a problem—and sleeplessness, agitation and fogginess often lead these troubled folks to reach for the pills again.

But who really needs sleeping pills anyway? Especially when natural alternatives abound. When the Nestlé Research Center in Switzerland decided to conduct laboratory tests on sleep inducers recommended in herbal lore, catnip, chamomile, lettuce, orange flower, poppy seeds, rosemary, almonds and especially valerian got high scores. And in a 1989 study, almost half of the people with insomnia who took valerian had a perfect night's sleep and almost everyone else found that their sleep improved to some degree. According to the results of several other studies, including one conducted in Germany in 1993, valerian helps you fall asleep more quickly, especially if you are elderly or a habitually poor sleeper. And once you do fall asleep, the deep sleep stages that are so important to a restful night are deepened. The results of another study conducted in Germany showed that a combination of valerian and lemon balm sent even the worst sleepers off to dreamland as effectively as the drugs commonly prescribed for sleep.

Valerian has been compared to various prescription drugs. One compound found in this herb depresses the central nervous system so well that the effect is similar to that of the sedative barbiturate phenobarbital. And valerian does this without causing any dizziness, blurred vision, drowsiness or poor physical performance and concentration the next day, as tranquilizers and barbiturates so often do. It does not even affect your dream recall or the ability to awaken refreshed in the morning. People in one study reported that they even felt much better the next day.

Another herb that is good for treating insomnia is catnip. For some reason, though, catnip has never been as popular as valerian, even though the two contain similar components that encourage sleep. Nevertheless, it did have its heyday. The English have long enjoyed their afternoon tea, and in pre-Elizabethan times, the beverage of choice was a relaxing cup of catnip tea. Times have changed, however, and now a stimulating cup of imported black tea is preferred. But catnip remains one of the favorite herb teas for sending children off to sleep.

Studies conducted in the late 1970s confirmed that catnip is indeed a potent sleep-inducer for humans. Like valerian, catnip calms you without disrupting performance the next day. And it is a plant that you can easily grow yourself. In fact, if you are lucky enough to have your own herb garden, you might already have catnip in it. Just be sure to protect it from your cats. Catnip and valerian both have the opposite effect on cats and rats as on people—they act as stimulants. According to legend, the Pied Piper's secret to ridding the village of Hamelin of rats was not his music, but the valerian he had tucked in his pockets!

Plenty of research has been done on chamomile's ability to relieve pain and insomnia. In a study conducted in 1973, almost all the people who drank chamomile tea instead of taking their regular pain medication fell into a deep sleep within ten minutes. The Germans call chamomile alles zutraut, or "capable of anything"—chamomile is so versatile that I sometimes think it can indeed do anything.

Passionflower has been a popular sleep inducer since the days of the Aztecs and the Incas, and it is still widely used in Brazil to treat insomnia, anxiety and nervousness. Combined with valerian, this herb makes one of the most popular sleeping aids in Europe, where you can find it sold in almost every drugstore. Passionflower is particularly helpful when tight muscles or an overactive mind disturb your sleep. Research from the Escola Paulista de Medicina in Brazil in the early 1990s showed that passionflower depresses the central nervous system.

If you are having trouble falling asleep at night or if you wake up too early in the morning and cannot doze off again, try Saint-John's-wort to help regulate disturbed sleep patterns. Like passionflower, it adjusts brain chemistry, helping to increase the availability of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is responsible for promoting sleep and relaxation, as we know. When taken over a period of many weeks or even months, both of these herbs help people who suffer from chronic insomnia.

In India, gotu kola is taken to overcome insomnia and make one calm for yoga practice and meditation. Besides other sedative compounds, gotu kola contains an abundance of the "antistress" B vitamins.

Suanzaorentang, a Chinese formula used to treat depression, also improves sleep. It contains licorice, zizyphi seed, ligustrum, poria and bunge root. In a study conducted in 1985, people with insomnia who took this formula 30 minutes before bedtime found that they slept much better. Symptoms resulting from lack of sleep also improved significantly: People reported far fewer heart palpitations and stiff necks, less nervousness and less lower back pain. In general, they also felt an improved sense of well-being. Even after discontinuing the formula, the individuals involved in the study continued to sleep well for a week before returning to their former disrupted sleep patterns.

Hops is another important sleep-promoting herb with a unique way of working. It acts directly on the central nervous system, and takes effect in 20 to 40 minutes when taken as a tea or tincture or in pills. In studies conducted in Germany on people who have trouble sleeping, those who were given a combination of valerian and hops reported that they experienced a much sounder sleep. These favorable reports were confirmed by researchers who observed the participants in this study and measured their brain waves as they slept.

Even sniffing hops helps you doze off. Throughout much of Europe, bed pillows have for centuries been stuffed with dried hops for just that reason. Unlike most herbs, hops actually gets better with age—exposure to air increases its sedative effect.

Hops Sleep Pillow

2 pieces of fabric about 8 inches square

¼ cup hops strobiles

1/8 cup chamomile flowers

1/8 cup lavender flowers (optional)

Sew pieces of fabric together around the edge to form the pillow, leaving enough room to insert a tablespoon. Turn the pillow inside out so that the stitching is inside. Combine herbs and spoon them into the pillow. Sew up the opening. Lay the hops pillow under your regular sleeping pillow. If you are feeling creative, you can make the pillow any shape or size—just make more of this recipe to fill it. The hops should last about a year.

Insomnia Formula

½ teaspoon each tinctures of valerian rhizome, hops strobiles, passion flower and chamomile flowers

Combine ingredients. These herbs can also be made into a tea, although most people prefer the tincture because the tea doesn't taste very good. Also, valerian is more effective as a tincture since some of its components are not water soluble.