Insomnia is the inability to sleep or stay asleep. According to Web Md below are some factors to seriously consider when you experience insomnia:
Causes of acute insomnia can include:
- Significant life stress (job loss or change, death of a loved one, divorce, moving)
- Illness
- Emotional or physical discomfort
- Environmental factors like noise, light, or extreme temperatures (hot or cold) that interfere with sleep
- Some medications (for example those used to treat colds, allergies, depression, high blood pressure, and asthma) may interfere with sleep
- Interferences in normal sleep schedule (jet lag or switching from a day to night shift, for example)
Causes of chronic insomnia include:
- Depression and/or anxiety
- Chronic stress
- Pain or discomfort at night
When I was a teenager and lived in Hollywood I had some extreme cases of insomnia. Aside from my anxiety of living alone, the traffic noise, and gunfire: being an empath I could feel the city and all of what that entailed. At this point in my life, however I hadn't an understanding of what I was and the ability I had or the weight it carried. I just thought I couldn't sleep, so I would walk the streets. I felt couped up in my little studio and needed to get out. Most nights it would work well because I would exhaust myself by walking miles and miles at 1am.
Some of you may be thinking how reckless and dangerous of me to be walking around Hollywood in the wee hours when the freaks came out. Quite the contrary my friends. The freaks and weirdos, after a bit, recognized me and looked out for me. It was cool. They weren't interested in dragging me down into their individual hells or circumstances. They knew what I was and in turn looked out for me. Anyhow, in this time of my life if the walking didn't work, alcohol would. If you remember from the blog post about Milk Thistle, I mentioned that I had a love affair with John Barrley Corn: well we were the best of friends at this tender age.
After weeks upon weeks of not sleeping my world shifted into a bizarre waking dream land. I experienced extreme emotional shifts and was mad as hell. I am sure the lack of sleep and the increased booze intake contributed to my madness. Depression began to set in. I remember sitting in the window nook in my studio living room reading with a 40 oz. beer and some bread dipped in marinara sauce while listening to a symphony that was playing at the Hollywood Bowl and thinking how easy it would be to jump from this 5th story window. My imagination would take me to strange places were sometimes I would see myself jump and go splat. Other dream state imagination experiences would lead me to believe that I could fly if I jumped because I would be carried on the waves of the beautiful music the symphony was playing. And then I would find myself crying.
Having a strong will, a desire for life and discovering her answers, I didn't jump. After I was fed up with all the bullshit I was going through, I decided to seek help. Since the tender age of 8 ( as far back as I can remember) I have been connected to Mother Nature. I hated doctors and medicine. I always felt healing from going outside, playing and climbing trees. When my mom would take us camping in Sequoia National Forest I was the happiest kid on the planet. A week was never long enough for me and I would delay our departure from this magic land as long as I possibly could. I would hide. They would find me and we would head home. Bummed me out. Anyhow, because of my natural draw to natural healing I decided to seek what I consider real healing. I hopped on a bus to the Valley to a Bulk Herb store on Vineland Blvd. The dude that worked there was pretty cool, the stoner that he was.
I told him what was going on with me. After a fun conversation and several of his stories I purchased some herbs to not only help me to sleep, but to detox my liver and to work on the headaches I had been experiencing. The three herbs were, Vaerian root, Milk Thistle and White Willow bark. I drank these herbs in tea form. I didn't know how to make tinctures at this point. I drank a Milk Thistle tea each morning for three weeks. When headaches occurred I would drink a White Willow bark tea. By the way, the big pharms use white willow to make the aspirins that we use. However they chemical this natural healer and in turn we may get a more instant effect but suffer from kidney and liver destruction. Just saying.
At night, I would drink a cup of tea made from the Valerian root. Now let me tell you something about Valerian Root. It smells horrible! I mean really nasty. The stank also lingers. Fortunately times have advanced and you can get Valerian in a tincture or in capsules. I prefer the tincture or the tea because the result seems to come more quickly. Here is the skinny on Valerian root. And let me preface this with not everything works for everybody and Valerian has different effects on people. My friend Anna actually hallucinates. It is too strong for her and doesn't work with her chemical make up as it does with mine. So with any medication, herb etc. be cautious of your intake and educate yourself. Valerian works for me and is my go to herb for bouts of insomnia.
Valerian root is a strong nervine that contains an essential oil and alkaloids that combine to create a natural tranquilizer. It can produce a relaxing effect that draws sleep with a restful outcome. You wake feeling refreshed rather than sluggish and drugged. It is known as a safe non-narcotic herbal sedative. It can also be used for anxiety. When I worked at the Health food store a sister that had to quit smoking weed for a job she had acquired, she experienced anxiety and was ornery as hell. I suggest she use a Valerian tincture to keep calm and to produce the same effect she felt when smoking. It had the desired effect, until she became strong enough to handle her ish.
Valerian is used in the short term. I use it in extreme cases of insomnia. In this blog post I list alternative herbs to help with sleep :
http://workwithdynamicduo1014.blogspot.com/2015/03/sleep-on-cloud-dream-baby-dream.html
Also in this video I show you how to make a Valerian tincture and in the next video how to process the tincture after it has brewed.
How to make a Valerian tincture : https://youtu.be/BjZApcwPzug
How to finish your brewed tincture: https://youtu.be/uBtUVzKo0C0
Valerian is powerful and can help you get the sleep you so desperately need. Mama takes care of us. Seek out healing from her. Do your investigations and discover a pure world that embraces you.
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Toulousse
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