I thought I might apprise everyone with my current sleeping routine as it may be of benefit to others or, at the very least, cause drowsiness from having had read this post. Either way, as I said, a possible benefit. For the last five years, I’ve had two foremost states of being; either too tired or too wired. For the last three years, I’ve made a bedtime tonic, the original recipe was green tea, lemon, ginger, turmeric, magnesium glycinate and apple cider vinegar. Then two years ago, when I had a substantial herb garden, I started to alternate fresh herbs like common feverfew, lavender, rosemary and sage. When I was a child, I used to make witches brews, I guess I’ve never grown out of it. The point of the tonic is to have a calming nighttime brew that caps the end of my day. Over the years, I altered the recipe in the hope it might also provide me with a sleep aid. I knew that the magnesium would boost melatonin production and lavender boosts GABA activity, but I was still struggling to get to the land of nod. My circadian rhythms well out of tune, I was getting my eight hours; just at unexpected times. Fast forward, 2025, adjusted tea recipe to include star anise and camomile. I persisted with this addition for about six months but wasn’t feeling sleepy or, particularly, relaxed. Now I recognise that a good sleep routine is more than sedation, but it’s a catch twenty-two, a good routine is pointless without sedation and sedation is pointless without a good routine. That is, you can set your nighttime routine sensibly to adhere to best practice, but if you’re still awake by 6 am it makes for a long stretch of nocturnal suffering and if you achieve sedation without a good routine, you end up falling asleep at arbitrary hours which impedes one’s daily/nightly schedule. I have a fairly best practice routine, I make sure my bedroom is cool and dark, I read a book for an hour, I put on soothing ambient music, I use lavender oil as a calming scent and then it all goes to pot.
Feeling drowsy yet? Good. I’ve always appreciated sleeping pills when I’ve been allowed to have them. GPs rarely prescribe these, I’ve had about three prescriptions over my lifetime and that lovely, drowsy feeling was a welcomed sweet spot after long periods of insomnia. I have benzodiazepines at hand for panic attacks but save those only for my panic disorder as I only get a limited amount and being that my insomnia is a nightly occurrence I’d soon drain that resource dry pretty quickly and have nothing to quash severe panics when they erupt. For a period in 2024, I experimented with strong CBD oil, and then CBD crystals to nil effect. A friend encouraged me to try the smokable form for a week, ended up feeling spaced all night and then groggy the next day. Wasn’t for me. Neurological fatigue can actually be painful if one can’t sleep. I gave valerian root supplements a go, but these, I suspect, were full of additives. I persisted with them until I got tired of taking them for the sake of taking them and tired not in the way I wanted. I added tulsi to my tonic, hearing positive notes about holy basil, alas wholly ineffective. Fatigue, I imagine, plays a role in my insomnia. I can feel fatigued by 10 pm, prepare everything for bed, settle myself down as my brain is drained and then stay awake until 4 am. It’s cruel.
At last I figured I had to synthesise the effects of a benzodiazepine, using herbs. I had to create a CNS depressant, or closest to, with herbs that react in a similar way to their chemical counterparts. It all came down to GABA (the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain), this neurotransmitter is the warden of chemical messages and nerve cells, inhibiting over-excitability and suppressing nerve riot. Having a beer will inhibit neuronal signalling, the same as what GABA does.
Even if you are now fast asleep, I will continue writing. To stitch a short story long, I did a bit of research and came to the conclusion that I had to combine a number of herbs that would work in harmony with each other. I came to understand that valerian boosts GABA levels and Skullcap boosts weak GABA connections, so these two working together should, in theory, provide a decent sedative. Not as formidable as their chemical counterpart but effective enough for me. I made sure this time I purchased pure valerian root, not this capsule business where the contents could be talcum powder for all I know. I did get skullcap (the Chinese variety, not the North American plant, although both are used for similar purposes) in capsule form but am trusting British Supplements to adhere to their ethos and ethics. At first, I put a teaspoon of valerian root and a whole skullcap capsule in my nighttime tonic. I fell asleep alright but also found I slept all through the next day, I was so groggy I couldn’t stay awake. I am to understand that large doses of valerian can do this, a herbal hangover if you like.
So, before you wake up, I have to say that I have been trialing this in my tea now for several weeks and have been able to fall asleep and wake up relatively early feeling alert. I haven’t always achieved a full eight hours but I suspect the time I am sleeping, I get a good dollop of REM which means I wake up feeling a bit more with it. I am also practicing VDK to help tame ghoulish thoughts. Who knows, it might just be the VDK and not the herbs 
. In any case, the verdict is still not, entirely, in as to whether this recent tonic blend is helping, I like to give something a rigorous test before I announce efficacy to myself as I am a born skeptic. The dreaded insomnia may return and I’ll just have to sigh Sod’s Law to it all.
As a caveat, some of these herbs, and whatnot, can interact with Clopidogrel, so I am doing this with that in mind. However, it seems nearly everything interacts with Clopidogrel so I suspect it comes down to quantity and length of use that matters as well as mg strength of Clopidogrel and at what time these are all ingested. Another caveat is that what is seemingly beneficial for one person may not be for another, as some of what I have written above indicates. What is helping me may not help others, it’s more about how to approach a problem rather than what is involved in providing a solution to that problem. That’s the way I see it.
So now that you are, probably, peacefully comatose, I shall end this post, satisfied that if my adventures into the realm of snooze hasn’t inspired others, then at least it has provided a good sedative for a catnap.
