There are some people who never have brain burnouts; calm people who fall in the categories of low intelligence and the very intelligent. If you’re one of the lucky ones this article is not for you.
This is for those who tend to use their brains in manic ways to the point where they feel burned out, their heads literally over heated.
Brain stress and burnout isn’t caused just by overthinking. The brain can get wound up and overworked hormonally, through the effect of drugs that stimulate the glands in the brain. The brain can get over-heated dealing with the sudden demands of the body in dealing with hormonal changes like puberty, pregnancy, even changes in the temperature around us.
Spring fever, the onset of summer, the brain freeze of winter coming on quicker than usual – all these can over-work the brain.
Brain stress is also caused by compromised blood circulation such as caused a heavy meal or a sluggish liver.
Let’s get straight to it.
My Top 7 Herbs for Overworked Brains
White Willow Bark – Salix Alba
The original source of Aspirin, and a pain reliever, I have used it to relieve all kinds of pain. No matter what sort of brain burn-out you’re experiencing, White Willow Bark, through its gentle effect of calming erratic blood circulation, will help.
5 -10 drops in a cup of water is usually enough. Try to get some sleepor do things that don’t require brain work, and then take another dose when the pain starts.
St. John’s Wort – Hypericum
Also a pain reliever, St.John’s Wort is what I call a ‘cheerer’ of the system. There is this state of consciousness a body (and brain) fall into because of fatigue that never really goes away. A sort of listlessness that hangs on from day to day that shows up in a dull ache in the nervous system that can flare up every now and then.
The nerves have got their share of housekeeping and self repair to do, but in this state of affairs most of that gets put aside simply because of the general lack of hope.
St. John’s Wort acts like an old friend come around to cheer everyone up and take the mind off those same old depressing thoughts that lead nowhere in the end.
5-10 drops in a cup of water is enough. Or tea.
Borage – Borago Officinalis
They call it the ‘courage’ herb. It’s for when you feel overloaded and overwhelmed and the main cause of the stress is the stress itself.
Those for example who are stressed out because they’re too stressed out to find a solution to a problem. They know they have to stop being stressed out, but they’re too stressed out to find a solution to being stressed out so they can find a solution to the problem.
Short circuiting if you will – everything feels like it comes back to square one. The person goes around in thought loops, saying the same things every few hours, coming to the same conclusions, and then back on the merry-go-round in the same pattern over and over.
It takes a sort of spark or energy to get out of the loop, and that is a matter of the heart, rather than a matter of the head.
You see a thinking process that does not have the heart and feeling and passion involved, is bound to short circuit. We’re just not made to be robots. We cannot solve problems like robots do.
We need the spark of emotion or nothing will make sense eventually. Our thought processes need to be grounded and connected to our feelings, what we really care about.
This is where Borage can help. Borage is a smug little school boy that knows just who everyone is secretly in love with, but not even telling themselves. With a smug naughty little grin he’ll point out that secret person to you.
The blood will rush to your head at the thought of that person (or whatever it is that you feel strongly about – the real reason for this whole mental effort in the first place) and suddenly everything feels a whole lot better.
Don’t use Borage too often. Keep it for those moments when you really need it. Once or twice a day is as much as you could need it.
Plaintain – Plantago Officinalis
Sometimes Brain Stress is because of nerves wound up and taut in the digestive system. Plantain has this conditioning, smoothing effect all through.
If you find your flow of thought erratic, jumping about instead of moving from point A to point B and so on, Plantain will help smooth things out.
Foxglove or Digitalis
Usually taken to regularize heart beat rhythm, Digitalis also helps normalize nervous frequency and brain circulation.
Of special help for those with panic disorders, those with PTSD, those with severe anxiety, Digitalis can help get the person back to a point where those moments of severe stress, when it feels like the world is ending, and the hands are shaking and the perspiration flows, are greatly lessened.
When you feel your heart rate increasing wildly (and not because the one you love has entered the room – that’s good heart rate increase) – that’s Digitalis time.
Pennywort or Gotu Kola – Centella Asiatica
There are few herbs in the world that will give instant strength to a tired overheated brain. Strength to face the situation, strength to deal with the demand of brain hormones to manage a change in the body, strength.. basic strength.
Pennywort or Gotu Kola is this tender little plant that hugs the earth and covers the ground. This tenderness is reminiscent of our brains and nerves. For all the looks of it, our physically slender nerves and soft mushy brains do a huge amount of work and truly are strong to do all they do.
Pennywort is for that state of consciousness where we’ve gotten disconnected from ‘why are we doing this’. Much like Borage which connects us to our emotions, but perhaps on an even more primal level, Pennywort brings our energy reserves to focus on the most basic of our life tasks, instantly releasing energy the brain was holding on to for ‘the big problem’, keeping everything else stalled.
Pennywort’s like the Mom coming to the child’s house and saying, “Sure you have a problem, but you’ll feel better about it all once your trash has been taken out, and your carpet cleaned and your bed linen changed.” And in fact it’s true.
Pennywort or Gotu Kola is robust liver strength and support for all the clean-up processes of the body. You have to try it to understand how supporting the clean-up processes can result in a vibrant relaxed healthy brain.
Gotu Kola taken regularly is solid brain rehabilitation and you could benefit from it especially as the weather gets warmer.
Sarsaparilla
Sarsaparilla is part of the traditional arsenal against the heat of the summer. A tincture of the roots has such an array of benefits, it would be foolish for me to consider listing them here.
Sarsaparilla helps relaxes the lungs which results in such a decrease in the tension that blood stuck up in pockets here and there holding heat and getting warmer by the minute, finally move out and release the heat (and tension). The brain relaxes as well as the whole nervous system. This often has something of a pain killer effect for those with tension caused pain in the organs and deep muscle tissue.
Prepare to be surprised by Sarsaparilla. All kinds of good things can result from the body relaxing.