An Herbal Educator's Perspective: What's Keeping You From Optimal Sleep
Struggling with sleep?
It’s easy to blame your loud neighbor who plays electronic music all night long (speaking from experience here), but let's dive into a few actual root causes for poor sleep that might be creeping their way into your life and how to combat them.
Herbs that support sleep
Herbs are a wonderful way to promote deep, restful sleep without side effects. Here are a few herbs we recommend to help you rest.
Enter schisandra berry, an adaptogenic herb that is great at supporting liver function, as well as the heart, lungs, kidneys, and spleen. Schisandra berry, often used in traditional Chinese medicine, is known for its five flavor profile (salty, bitter, pungent, sour, and sweet) which is said to benefit the five yin organs (heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, and spleen). Not only is it great at supporting liver function, but it also has adaptogenic properties so over time it has been shown to benefit stress levels. Schisandra berry can be found in these herbal formulas: Releaf™, Firm Believer™, Rosé-Tinted Glasses™, and Clean Sweep™.
Another wonderful herb for sleep is holy basil aka tulsi. Holy basil is one of the main functional herbs in this blend and is praised for its adaptogenic qualities which helps your body adapt to stress and all the feelings that come with it. Holy basil works by nourishing the adrenals and nervous system—a system that is essential for sleep, memory, mood, and mental functions. Holy basil is found in our bestselling sleep support formula: Do Not Disturb™.
Our final herb on the list is tart cherry. Tart cherries are a variety of sour cherries native to Central Europe. Studies have shown the positive impacts of tart cherry consumption can have on improving sleep and melatonin production. It’s been shown to support athletic recovery and performance as well as providing inflammatory benefits due to its high antioxidant levels. Tart cherry can be found in our herbal red wine alternative tincture, Wine Down™.
How to stay asleep
Let’s dive into another cause that isn’t as talked about. When speaking with clients, I often ask whether they have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep. When they note that it is trouble staying asleep, that leads me to ask them what time of night they are waking up. More often than not, 3-4 AM is a common answer. What does this mean and how does it help me to assess what the root cause of their poor sleep could be?
3 words: Liver Qi Stagnation (Qi means energy in Traditional Chinese Medicine).
Our liver is responsible for detoxing and clearing out excess hormones in our body, but did you know that it tends to do most of its job at night while we are sleeping? As you can imagine, if it isn’t functioning optimally, it could be the root cause of your poor sleep, waking you up and keeping you from that full, restorative night of zzz's.
One of the number one things that I see causing poor sleep is stress. A little bit of stress in our life is actually a good thing (think exercise), but it’s when that little bit of stress turns into a lot of stress that it can be very damaging to our health. Stress tends to have a bit of a domino effect and when one area is out of balance, it often trickles down into other areas of our lives, like sleep.
Whenever I am facing racing thoughts and I can’t seem to shut my brain off at night, I turn to Do Not Disturb™. Do Not Disturb™ is our sleep formula that contains herbs that are beneficial for improving the body's response to stress, quieting the mind, and supporting restful sleep.
Conclusion
Ready to take back your nights and get the restorative sleep you've been craving? Grab these potent herbs and formulas and get the rest you need.
