Anxiety & depression go lock and key with insomnia.
The use of Chinese herbs within the Traditional Chinese Medicine philosophy can radically turn things around for you.
I’m going to share with you 5 of the most powerful Chinese herbs for anxiety and insomnia.
If you’re living in the Western world, it’s not easy to adapt Eastern medicine or philosophies. Our media and culture has collectively made fun of these natural substances so it makes sense we could consider it to be woo woo or not scientific.
Here in the West everything (unfortunately) is based on “science” (even though science, studies and scientists themselves) can be bought.
If you’ve tried Ayervedic medicine from India, Western drugs or even shamanism from the jungles of Peru, you might be pleasantly surprised by the power of these particular Chinese herbs for anxiety and insomnia
I’m going to be focused in this article on how anxiety and depression impact sleep. I want to help you fall asleep and stay asleep so that you can feel better and I would say 95% of the time people cannot sleep because they have anxiety or depression.
So here are the 5 best Chinese herbs for anxiety and insomnia.
Gynostemma
Gynostemma aka Southern Ginseng or Jiaogulan, is known throughout ancient Chinese medicine that it’s an adaptogen which means it adapts to what your body needs in that moment. If your immune system is weak, it can help increase T cells, white blood cells and bring up your immunity. If you’re immune system is too high or too sensitive, it can adapt and modulate it to calm things down for you.
By doing so it helps to regulate your central nervous system during times when anxiety and stress are high. Perfect for falling asleep during these times. On a side note, people take this for trying to lose weight if they’re obese. You can make a simple Gynostemma tea 2 hours before bed and watch the calming magic happen especially if you’re feeling anxious.
Goji Berries
Gogi berries aka Lycium barbarum, or wolfberry are extremely high in antioxidants which means they’re electron donors. This helps protect your nervous system from oxidative stress and inflammation. As a result you’ll notice calming and neuroprotective effects when it comes to managing anxious thoughts and feelings before bed. I like to make a cup of goji berry tea if I have lots of stress or depression at night. You’ll notice it really calms you down.
Some studies suggest goji berries are helpful for sleep on top of being a great Chinese herb for anxiety.
Jujube
Jujube also known as Zizyphus seed (Suan Zao Ren) has been directly studied in clinical settings on sleep and specifically with patients suffering from insomnia. Some studies suggest it is effective for improving overall sleep quality, although that can be subjective. They say it does a better job than benzodiazepines for primary insomnia. It also has very calming medicines and plant alkaloids contained within it for anxiety making it one of the best Chinese herbs for anxiety available. There’s a reason it has been used for this reason for thousands of years.
Schisandra Berry
The schisandra berry aka Wu Wei Zi has a lot of sedative properties to it and helps turn your mind off and reduce symptoms of anxiety making it really powerful for inducing sleep. With anxiety, your mind thinks one stressful thought and then it keeps going and going and going until your cortisol and adrenaline rise to the point of increasing body temperature and keeping you awake. Schisandra can help mitigate the effects of that.
It also helps to strengthen cell membranes which prevents the loss of electrons which is one of the effects of stress induced inflammation inside your body. As a result, it has been used for centuries for both anxiety and insomnia.
One of my favorite Chinese herbs for sleep by far.
Schisandra berry for the win.
Reishi (Duanwood Reishi)
Reishi is known as the queen of mushrooms while Chaga is the king of mushrooms. In TCM you have 3 main areas of the bocy that these herbs work on. They’re referred to as the Three Treasures which are…
- Jing (Vital Essence)
- Qi (Vital Energy)
- Shen (Spirit)
Reishi modulates all 3 and as a result it’s called a tonic, which means you can take it daily for anxiety, depression and insomnia. I make teas out of it and use it as the base for coffee and sipping on it at night before bed mostly in the Winter time. It helps reduce cortisol and modulating our stress response in the body. It also helps to calm the mind and ease muscle tension and strengthen nerve fibers. It’s incredible sedative and impact Shen the most but also Qi and Jing to a lesser degree. If you have depression, anxiety or insomnia this Chinese herb needs to become a stable in your life.
Conclusion
These are just my favorite 5 Chinese herbs for anxiety and insomnia that I’ve used. There are many others I would encourage you to research and use. These Chinese herbs have been used in TCM for literally thousands of years and your modern medical doctor has never heard of them because they were not taught Eastern medicine in the medical schools they went to.
As a result Western doctors either know about them and say they’re useless for anxiety and sleep or they’ve never even heard of them.
Most times it’s the latter.
And we all know that if a Western medical doctor hasn’t heard of something that means it’s useless. I say that in jest but the opposite is true.
Maybe they’ve never heard of it because if they were taught Eastern medicine, they’re realize the oil based Western drugs wouldn’t be necessary.
I highly encourage you to research these amazing Chinese herbs for anxiety and better yet, buy some and see how they help with your sleep.
Personally my favorite is Reishi and goji berries combined. Normally I’ll take my 50mg of melatonin then I’ll add a little cream my tea along with a teaspoon of honey before bed and it works better than Ambien, Tylenol PM, Nyquil or any other sleeping pill.
Don’t forget to wear your blue light blocking glasses at night and have circadian lighting installed in your home otherwise no amount of Chinese herbs for anxiety or insomnia are going to work. You cannot violate light laws and make up for it using diet.
But I invite you to start using these herbs on a regular basis.
Give it a try and see for yourself!
Questions:
- Have you ever tried Chinese herbs for anxiety
- Is anxiety affecting your sleep at night?
- What effects did you notice using Chinese herbs?
Comment below.