The 5 Best Herbs For Great Sleep

 Sleep is essential for our well-being, and we all know how important it is to get a good night's rest. Lack of sleep can lead to various health issues such as fatigue, anxiety, and depression. Getting quality sleep can be challenging, but with the help of herbs, you can create a bedtime routine that supports restful sleep. In this article, I will share my favorite herbal teas for sleep and show you how to make them at home.

Hold up! Are you an auditory learner? LISTEN to this article in podcast or WATCH in video format ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

NERVINES

Before we dive into the tea blends, let's talk about nervines. Nervines are a class of herbs that have an effect on the nervous system.

They can be sedative, tonic, or stimulating.

• Sedative nervines are known for their calming and sedating properties and can be helpful for promoting sleep, reducing anxiety, and increasing relaxation.

• Tonic nervines are believed to support the overall health and function of the nervous system.

• Stimulating nervines usually have caffeine in them and can help promote alertness and focus.

All the herbs in this blog are sedative nervines.

Valerian

Valeriana officinalis

Valerian is a sedative nervine that is also antispasmodic and hypotensive, meaning it reduces blood pressure. It's commonly used for mental and emotional stress, pain, anxiety, restlessness, insomnia, cramps, muscle tension, and backaches. Valerian is a popular herb for sleep, and it's often used in sleep aids due to its calming properties. However, it has a distinct smell that not everyone may find pleasant. If you're sensitive to the smell, you can omit it from the blend.

Linden

Tilia cordata

Linden is a nervine, antispasmodic, and hypotensive herb that can lower blood pressure. Due to its significant effects on the cardiovascular system, it is considered a cardio tonic. Linden is known for its calming effects on the nervous system and is often used to relieve anxiety, nervousness, and tension. It's a mild sedative that calms the mind and promotes mental, emotional, and muscular relaxation.

Passionflower

Passifora incarnata

Passionflower is a nervine and anxiolytic herb often used as a symptom treatment for anxiety disorders. It's incredibly relaxing and can be used for headaches, muscle spasms, insomnia, and anxiety and panic attacks. Passionflower is my number one anti-anxiety herb and can often stop an anxiety attack in its tracks within a few doses. It increases the neurotransmitter GABA in the brain, which is associated with a calm mind and a decrease in mental chatter and overthinking.

Lavender

Lavandula officinalis

Lavender: Lavender (Lavandula officinalis) is a common herb that is used as an essential oil for relaxation and rest. It's a nervine, relaxant, and antispasmodic herb that can be supportive in soothing the muscles, for insomnia, for grounding nervous tension, and for decreasing anxiety. Lavender supports mental relaxation by increasing GABA in the brain.

Chamomile

Matricaria recuita

Chamomile is a nervine, hypnotic, carminative, bitter, antispasmodic, relaxing nervine, and anti-inflammatory herb. It has a wide range of uses in the body and is known for its calming effects on the

MAKING A BEDTIME HERBAL TEA BLEND

Let's move on to making the tea blend. It's really simple! We'll add all of the herbs to a jar in equal amounts. I like to make a big jar of the blend rather than blending the tea every night, so I usually add about 4 teaspoons of each herb.

To give the blend a little flavor and act as a catalyst, I add a teaspoon of peppermint. You could also use ginger if you prefer ginger over mints.

Finally, I add a few pinches of rose petals to the blend to add a little prayer or intention for my herbal medicine. Plus, beautiful things are their own medicine, and rose itself is a beautiful plant.

After adding all the herbs, shake it all up to mix it well and label your jar. Medicine making 101 always label your medicine. You can write the recipe on the label or on a sheet of paper that you keep with your other recipes so that you can make this blend again.

MAKING A CUP OF SLEEPY TEA

To make the tea, add 2 teaspoons of your blend to a cup or jar and cover it with 2 cups of hot water. Let the tea steep for about an hour. It's actually part of my bedtime routine. I make a cup of tea and then tidy my house and take care of the animals and do my bedtime stuff. Then I drink tea while I read before bed. This tea helps calm me down and fall asleep.

If you end up making this tea, let me know how it comes out and how you like it! Let me know if you make any changes to the recipe. I love sharing herbal remedies with my community and seeing what other people do. It's how we grow as herbalists, so I truly do want to hear from you.

Kristen Prosen