Body system: Nervous system & sleep

  • Calamus / Vacha (Safety Profile)

    Sweet flag is an aromatic marsh plant with a long history in Ayurveda, Chinese medicine and Indigenous North American medicine. It's also one of the few herbs banned from food in the US, because its oil contains beta-asarone, which caused cancer in rodent studies.

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    The full guide, with how to use it and the safety notes, is in the Remedies Vault.

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  • Evening Primrose

    Evening primrose is a tall North American wildflower whose yellow blooms open at dusk. Indigenous peoples ate its roots and greens and used it on bruises and sore skin, and today its seed oil is one of the best-known "women's" and skin supplements.

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    The full guide, with how to use it and the safety notes, is in the Remedies Vault.

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  • Asafoetida (Hing)

    Asafoetida, or hing, is the pungent resin that Indian cooks add by the pinch to beans and lentils, and that Ayurvedic and Persian healers have long used for wind and sluggish digestion. Here's what traditions use it for, what the small trials found, and who should keep it to food amounts.

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    The full guide, with how to use it and the safety notes, is in the Remedies Vault.

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  • Black Cohosh

    A tall woodland plant with white flower spikes, used by Indigenous peoples of eastern North America and by 19th-century Eclectic doctors, and now one of the best-known herbs for hot flushes. Here's what the tradition used it for, what the menopause studies really show, the EU amounts, and why its rare liver warning matters.

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    The full guide, with how to use it and the safety notes, is in the Remedies Vault.

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  • Saffron

    The world's most expensive spice is also one of the oldest mood herbs on record: Persian physicians called it a heart-gladdener, and modern trials have tested it for low mood and PMS. This profile covers how tradition uses it, what the research shows, and why "more" is not better with saffron.

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    The full guide, with how to use it and the safety notes, is in the Remedies Vault.

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  • Lavender

    Lavender is the classic calming flower, sipped as a gentle evening tea, added to baths and breathed in from the oil. In Europe the flower tea is an approved traditional remedy for mild stress and to help with sleep.

    Members-only guide

    The full guide, with how to use it and the safety notes, is in the Remedies Vault.

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  • Folate (Vitamin B9)

    Folate is the B vitamin your body uses to build every new cell, and the one with the strongest "take it before you need it" message in all of nutrition. Here's who needs a supplement, the real story on folic acid vs. methylfolate and MTHFR, and why more isn't better.

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    The full guide, with how to use it and the safety notes, is in the Remedies Vault.

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  • B-Complex

    A B-complex bundles the eight B vitamins your body uses to turn food into energy and keep nerves and blood healthy. Here's what each one does, who tends to run low, what the research on stress and energy shows, and why "more" on the label isn't always better.

    Members-only guide

    The full guide, with how to use it and the safety notes, is in the Remedies Vault.

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  • Vitamin B12

    Vitamin B12 keeps your blood and nerves working, and it's one of the few vitamins your body can quietly run short on for years without your knowing. Here's who tends to run low, which foods and forms cover your needs, what "B12 for energy" really means, and the common medicines that drain it.

    Members-only guide

    The full guide, with how to use it and the safety notes, is in the Remedies Vault.

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