Recently my husband, who’s an ER doc, agreed to work an extra shift to help a colleague who needed the time off. It was a late night shift at a hospital over two hours from our house, which meant sleeping in the sleep room they reserve for doctors who are wiped out and need to rest. It also happened to be back-to-back with another late night shift, so it promised to be a tiring 48 hours.
Jon doesn’t sleep well at the hospital, though he’s done it many times in this situation. It’s a good idea because a long drive after a ten hour shift is sometimes not safe; that said, in general he gets a rotten night’s sleep because of traffic through or noise outside of the room.
This time I thought to send him with some Valerian tincture and some Passionflower capsules. The Passionflower is relaxing, quiets an overactive mind. Jon doesn’t have that problem but with all the commotion around him I thought it wasn’t a bad idea to have Passionflower on board to ease him back into a restful mental space. More valuable though in this setting was the Valerian. It’s a sedative herb – inducing sleep for most people who take it. I figured the herb would put him to sleep and help him stay asleep.
Every once in a while I’m told Valerian meets a person that it keeps awake – having the opposite effect it usually has. But I’ve never met a person that has had that experience, so I felt reasonably confident sending it with Jon to help him rest.
He came home the next day saying “wow! that’s some powerful sh*&#t!” It really helped; he’d been able to sleep, and had a better couple of days for having rested. In fact, he asked for more on a follow-on night when he was feeling wired at bedtime. In the second case I thought maybe a back rub would be better, and he settled for that and fell asleep.
All the same, Valerian has a new friend in Jon.
If you are interested in learning more about Valerian or other herbal remedies you can find me at bespoke-herbals.com. Wishing you a restful winter’s rest.
Backyard Botanics 