Difficulty in sleeping, or disturbed sleep
patterns leaving the perception of insufficient sleep.
There are many herbs with reputations as being effective sleep remedies, but there are no legal plants that will put a person out! The key to successful treatment of insomnia is to find the cause, and deal with it effectively. This may be anything in the realm of human life, from deep grief......to constipation. Psychological issues often need attention, but then again so do health problems causing pain or discomfort. Dietary indiscretions must be identified, as must environmental factors (e.g. freeway noise or a snoring spouse). Insomnia can push the practitioners diagnostic skills to the limit, making the allopaths free and easy prescribing of benzodiazepine sleeping medications at least understandable (though undesirable)!
ACTIONS INDICATED FOR THE PROCESSES BEHIND INSOMNIA CONDITIONS
SYSTEM SUPPORT
Often the key to successful treatments lies in focusing upon some part, or function, of the body that is experiencing problems. This must be identified, and the appropriate system tonic, action or specific must be used. Hypnotics and nervines can be used within the context of such treatments. These can be selected by the role they play upon the system in question, and not simply based on their strength as Hypnotics. Thus, we need to consider:
Circulatory System: Here we can mention Motherwort, Lime Blossom, Balm as potential herbal ingredients for improvement.
Respiratory System: All of the Hypnotics can help as anti-spasmodics in conditions such as asthma, if used at the right dose. Wild Lettuce eases irritable coughs.
Digestive System: The relaxing nervines and carminatives are important, of which we can mention Chamomile, Vervain, Balm, Hops and Valerian. The anti-spasmodic herbs will help with intestinal colic (for example: Hops, Jamaican Dogwood, Passion Flower and Valerian).
Urinary System: Hypnotics are important here when used as muscle relaxants.
Reproductive System: The same remarks hold true. Of especial relevance would be the herbs Pasque Flower and Black Cohosh.
Muscular and Skeletal Systems: All Hypnotics will aid in reducing muscle tension, and even the pain associated with problems in these systems. They may be used internally or as lotions. Especially important are Jamaican Dogwood, Valerian and Black Cohosh.
Nervous System: All the herbs mentioned previously will work on the nervous system.
Skin: Chamomile and Cowslip promote healing, but otherwise the value of Hypnotics here is to ensure that the body has a good recuperative rest each night.
REMEDIES
The many herbal sleeping remedies known to be effective can be selected on the basis of their secondary actions or system affinity. They can also be selected on the basis of their strength, bearing in mind the very subjective nature and individual variability of human response to these herbs. We can very roughly identify three major groupings:
By selecting herbs that address specific health needs that are compounding the sleep difficulties, better results are obtained than simply going for a strong hypnotic. Thus, for example, an involvement of palpitations would indicate Motherwort.
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