Some days, I just need a second cuppa caffeine.
And, try as I might to convince myself that it’s somehow superior and totally okay (’cause it’s not in java form – and matcha’s my preference), I’ve come to learn an un-fun fact. And that’s that denial is only a river of tears in Egyptian cotton sheets that I spend the entire night awake on. Caffeine late in the day equals awake and anxious later. (Unless, of course, you’ve accrued enough sleep deprivation points over the week to cash in on.) However, I can’t help it. I mean, I can. I could technically stop having my cup of power up. But then I wouldn’t keep earning the employee of the month award they don’t give out at my job.
Thus, the emerald beverage stays.
Which is fine. Because according to some slumber pundits, the answer might not be to nix my energizing herbals.
But to add another – one dubbed “Holy Basil”.
(That giant image should’ve said: spoiler alert.
But yes: HB combats maladies of *all* kinds aside from sleep.
More on that later…)
What Holy Basil is, is this herb that balances out your endocrine system and the hormones that flow through it. How? Well, in part because of what happens when it comes to sleep and stress. See, if you’re the anxious sort, your cortisol (stress hormone) will try to spike circa the witching hour instead’ve when it’s meant to – later in the A.M. (Ever wake up Pulp-Fiction-adrenaline-needle-to-the-heart style at 3 or 4 A.M. for “no reason”? Yeah, that’s why.) What a helping of the Holy does, though, is counteract that cortisol. That way we can wake at six or eight instead.
And the plant’s magic has indeed been seen to lessen stress in all sorst’ve other sleeplessness inducing disorders that have that malevolent accessory called anxiety in common. For example, as published in the “Nepal Medical College Journal”, taking 500 mgs of HB a couple times a day (after eating, preferably), can reduce the degree of misery endured by generalized anxiety disorder sufferers. Meanwhile, back in the lab, this sacred basil herb in extract form alleviated a case of the sad-sads in lab animals. Which (while it begs the question: how do we measure depression in caged creatures?) is encouraging as well. Because more often than not, stress-inducing disorders like these are some top causes of insomnia. Whack that factor late in the day via herbal remedy, and your nights might just be better.
Actually, there’s a list of other issues Holy Basil apparently resolves too.
In fact, after trolling the WebMD site, I saw testimonials on both the extract and tea version of this working versus a wide range of complaints. It’s apparently been effective in serving as everything from a pneumonia remedy to an arthritis analgesic (also helpful to hear inasmuch as pain’s yet another prospective barrier between you ‘n sleep – which makes sense. Because pain causes stress, stress makes you tense, and tension intensifies pain. #SleeplessFeedbackLoop).
Here are just a few rando reviews:
“I’ve been taking this daily for a year now and I believe it has helped my immune system my mood and over all well being. Maybe just luck but since I’ve started taking it I haven’t been sick with anything cold related. “
No sicknesses? I’ll bite. Or… drink?
“Great tea and many blends to choose from. This herb is energizing while calming and is a great help to me as a woman, with aging and changing hormones,as well as my osteo arthritis and work stress levels.”
Energizing yet calming? Guess it depends on when in the day you take it… Like vitamin B12.
“I have been taking it for 11 months now and intend to continue with it as a part of my supplemental regimen. I work with children in health care and needed any supplement that would help me with my energy, stress and inflammation I have from lifting disabled children daily.”
Alright. I’m sold. I mean – something that’ll counteract my daily matcha? Sans any real side effects?
And cure all my other illnesses when they inevitably arise?
It’s no wonder this plant panacea’s got “holy” in its moniker…