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| where tension and anxiety are causing problems. This may manifest in purely psychological and behavioral ways or also with physical symptoms. Valerian will help in most cases. For some people it can be an effective mild pain reliever. |
| As one of the best gentle and harmless herbal sleeping remedies, valerian enhances the natural body process of slipping into sleep and making the stress of the day recede. For people who do not need as much sleep as they once did, it also eases lying awake in bed, ensuring that it becomes a restful and relaxing experience. This can often be as revivifying as sleep itself, and indeed all that is necessary in many cases. The true nature of sleep still remains a mystery. Everybody goes through stages of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, a stage where dreaming is associated with minor involuntary muscle jerks and rapid eye movements, indicating that active processes are occurring in the brain. It is important not to suppress the dreaming during this stage. Emotional experiences are processed by the mind in those dreams, and much arising from both the unconscious and daily life is balanced and harmonized. While sleeping pills have a marked impact on REM sleep, supressing dreaming, valerian does not interfere with this process because it is not powerful enough. |
| The research into valerian confirms the traditional experience of the herbalist. In one study valerian produced a significant decrease in subjectively evaluated sleep scores and an improvement in sleep quality. Improvement was most notable among those who considered themselves poor or irregular sleepers and smokers. Dream recall was relatively unaffected by valerian. When the effect of valerian root on sleep was studied in healthy young people, it reduced perceived sleep latency and the wake time after sleep onset. In other words the subjects experienced an easier and quicker descent into sleep. A combination of valerian and hops was given to people whose sleep was disturbed by heavy traffic noise. Giving the herbs well |
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