Nervines and More!!

There are basically 2 types of herbal nervines...relaxing & stimulating. Most times, in today's society many of us want the relaxing kind and these are the types I will focus on in this blog.

Relaxing nervines relax & benefit the nervous system! Plain & simple! They are calming. Then there are the ones that are stronger and have more of a sedative effect on the nervous system. There are also the ones that have an analgesic effect...reduces pain, also called anodynes. We will attempt to sort through all the ones that are available and what kind of effects they might have on the human body!!

So first off, we have the analgesics: chamomile, hops, jamaician dogwood, pasque flower & wild lettuce.

The tonics include: chamomile & skullcap.

In past articles I have mentioned & explained what a tonic is, so keep that in mind!

Then we have the ones that are strictly nervines: passion flower, wild lettuce, pasque flower, hops, skullcap & chamomile.

Now the sedative list is bigger, remember, these are stronger: passion flower, hops, skullcap, chamomile, pasque flower, wild lettuce, valerian and California poppy.

So do you see a pattern here??? One herb can fall into more than one category and when you are trying to decide on a blend, it's a good idea to know what herb will do what!!!!

It can be confusing for the newbie or even for us that have been doing it for ages.....