Sip Yourself Calm and Energized – Herbal Tea Combinations that Help You Overcome Both Anxiety and Exhaustion

How Did I Get This Way? Physiological and Psychological Response to Stress
The initial response to a stressor is the stimulation of the central nervous system (CNS) that leads to a number of physiological changes that enable the ‘fight or flight’ tactic. The regulation of physiological responses to stressful demands is handled mainly by the adrenal gland. The adrenal medulla, stimulated by an increase in nervous system activity, releases adrenaline and/or noreadrenaline into the bloodstream. The body’s response these hormones includes an increase in heart rate and blood pressure, constriction of blood vessels directing blood away from the skin to the muscles to provide them with more sugar and oxygen.

If the stressful situation continues, the anterior pituitary releases adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which stimulates the adrenal cortex to release cortisol, the ‘stress hormone’. Cortisol effectively increases blood pressure and blood sugar to maintain the stress response. However, long durations of high cortisol can lead to down regulation of the brain serotonin receptors, reducing sensitivity to available serotonin. This can lead to symptoms such as depression, mania, nervousness, insomnia, and mental disorders such as schizophrenia. As well, cortisol functions in the body’s natural circadian rhythm and if elevated, can disrupt the sleep/wake cycle, which in part can have drastic effects on daily life.

If the stress remains constant, there is chance for the adrenals to become fatigued, exhausting the production of adequate quantities of cortisol. This leads to debilitating fatigue where stressful events directly induce fever, joint and muscle pain, post-exertional fatigue, exacerbation of allergies, and disturbances of mood and sleep. In vitro, it has been shown that cortisol is responsible for turning off the production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin-1B, interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor. Therefore, psychological stress leading to diminished cortisol levels, can influence the onset and/or progression of conditions that involve excessive inflammation, like allergic, autoimmune, cardiovascular, infectious and rheumatologic illnesses.

The abundant research that supports both mental and physical disease can be induced by chronic stress, emphasizes the importance that stress management is imperative to preventative health and treatment of disease. There is much that can be done to ease anxiety, tension, as well as the physical and mental exhaustion brought on by chronic stress. Apart from the emotional/mental techniques (imagery, meditation, anger management programs, yoga, community involvement, etc) and physical methods (physical relaxation, exercise) to help manage stress in ones life, many individuals resort to either sedative or stimulant supplementation forms of stress relief. For example, stimulating foods such as chocolate, coffee, alcohol and high sugar desserts such as icecream and donuts can be used to self-medicate depressed states. Pharmaceutical drugs such as anti-depressants and anxiolytics are also used to manage stressful situations. However, these methods have proved to cause adverse side effects, and promote unhealthy states of being.

Herbal remedies can be used to treat the nervous system. When herbs are used with guidance, they elicit no toxic insults on the body and have no side effects. In fact, herbal remedies can be beneficial to the body, by supporting tissue healing and adaptation.

What are nervines?
Western herbalism commonly recognizes three major categories of herbs that act on the nervous system. These are nervine tonics, nervine relaxants, and nervine stimulants.

Nervine relaxants can be categorized further into sedatives, hypnotics, tranquillizers, analgesics and anti-spasmodics. In conventional pharmacological terms, sedatives reduce nervous activity, hypnotics promote sleep and tranquillizers act under an anxiolytic strategy. In addition, anti-spasmodics work directly on the nervous system by effecting peripheral nerves and surrounding muscle tissue and therefore indirectly relax the whole system. Because many traditional herbal remedies have various degrees of the sedative, hypnotic and tranquillizing activity, it is misleading to apply the strict pharmacological definitions to them as their effects are much broader in clinical experience.

Nervine stimulants, in herbal medicine, can act to quicken and enliven physiological activity in the body. However, it is not always appropriate to encourage physiological stimulation and may seem counter-intuitive in our hyperactive modern lives. In most cases, it is appropriate to stimulate the body’s innate vitality with nervine tonics and adaptogens to have a much deeper and longer-lasting effect than direct nervine stimulants. Pharmacologically, stimulants can be used to increase or maintain alertness, enhance the ability to concentrate and boost endurance and productivity. As well, stimulants can be used to treat depression.

Nervine tonics, or trophorestoratives, are considered to be the most important contribution to a nervine remedy. They strengthen and nourish the nervous system in cases of shock, stress, and nervous debility. By strengthening and restoring the tissues directly, they can contribute to the healing of damaged nervous tissue, whether due to a pathological process or physical trauma. Indications for nervine tonics also include nervous exhaustion, neuralgia, insomnia as well as neurasthenia.

Why are nervines useful in medicine?
The tissue of the nervous system connects the physical and psychological aspects of a person. Therefore, if there is disease on the psychological level, it will be reflected on the physiological level, and vice versa. A holistic approach to healing considers the interconnectedness of the physiological and psychological factors. In other words, putting the physical body at ease promotes ease in the psyche. The nervous system and its functions are a vital part of treatment for the whole being.

A Tea for the Anxious - Avena sativa, Passiflora incarnata & Scutellaria officinalis
Both Passiflora incarnata (passionflower) and Scutellaria officinalis (skullcap) are known as antispasmodics and relaxants with mild sedating activity. Indications for these actions include anxiety, irritability, restlessness, sleeplessness, nervous dyspepsia, irritable bowel and intestinal colic, tension headaches and migraines, and spasmodic dysmenorrhoea.

Avena sativa (milky oat seed) is known solely as a nervine tonic and has no additional relaxing or stimulating effects, and is praised for its trophorestorative effects. Milky oat seed is the perfect addition to a relaxant tea that aims to distress because the common observation is that many conditions of stress tension are linked with fatigue, debility and depression, making it crucial to give remedies that can restore energy, build strength and rebalance tissues. Traditionally used as a tonic, milky oat see is indicated for convalescence, debilitating conditions and chronic fatigue syndrome. Milky oat seed is also amphoteric in nature and a nutritive, which helps restlessness brought on by exhaustion, where ATP is too low to assist the process of sleep.

These three herbs together have a potent tonifying action and is aimed to supply lasting value to the treatment, rather than just short-term alleviation. It is relevant to also mention here, that it is thought that neurosis, anxiety, irritability and depression are considered aspects of excess heat. According to Galenic classification, nervine relaxant herbs are considered cooling herbs that ultimately sooth the flame of nervous imbalance. Both skullcap and passionflower are cooling herbs while milky oat seed is considered moistening.

A Tea for the Exhausted - Panax quinquefolius, Turnera aphrodisiaca & Rosmarinus officinalis
Panax quinquefolius, or American ginseng, has an adaptogenic quality similar to that of Panax ginseng (Asian ginseng). Both herbs have protopanaxadiols, a constituent with a sedating quality, and protopanaxotriol, which has a stimulating quality. However, American ginseng has more protopanaxadiols where Asian ginseng has more protopanaxotriol. Therefore, American ginseng is a milder stimulant when compared to Asian ginseng. In general, ginseng is known to improve the resistance to stress and is thought to help relieve anxiety by methods of improving performance under stress and improving resistance to a wide variety of stressors. Ginseng appears to act mainly on the hypothalamus, and has a sparing action on the adrenal cortex, mediated through the anterior pituitary and ACTH release. It provides a strong response to the initial phase of stress adaptation, so that when the stress decreases, the cortisol levels fall more rapidly to normal. As well, ginseng helps reduce cortisol production by a sparing effect in states of prolonged stress. According to, ginseng enhances stamina as well as memory and is indicated for general weakness and nervous agitation.

Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary) is a great addition to any stimulating tea for its mental stimulating qualities. In herbal medicine, rosemary is indicated for ‘brain fog’ and helps to decrease anxiety and depression by acting as a circulatory stimulant and a soother the nervous system. In addition, rosemary has a beneficial effects on the digestive system. It is said to improve flatulent dyspepsia and atonic conditions of the stomach and acts as an antispasmodic.

Finally, Turnera aphrodisiaca (damiana) should be added to a stimulant tea for its tonic and stimulating effects on the nervous system. Damiana is an anti-spasmodic, anxiolytic and antidepressant. Apart from these valuable effects of this herb, damiana is also an aphrodisiac, as is apparent in its name. However, it is not an aphrodisiac that provides energy to the system like the ginsengs, but rather it is beneficial for the inability or disinterest in sexual performance. It works directly on the nervous system to indirectly help infertility and impotence.