5 Herbs to Guide you through Anxiousness, Stress, + Burnout
By Sean Rose, M.Sc., Clinical Herbalist, Co-Founder of STROB Apothecary, Owner of Tenderhearted Consultations
No information in this article should be construed as personal health advice. This information is for educational purposes only. Please consult a health professional before consuming any herb at a medicinal strength.
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I’ll tell you something about myself. I’m a great, big, wiry stressball. In fact, I’ve had family tell me they worry about me because of how stressed I get myself. Sometimes it’s a superpower, allowing me to accomplish quite a bit in a short amount of time, but more often than not, it can place more roadblocks in my path.
Anxiousness and stress seem to be plaguing nearly everyone today.
We’re living in a time of upheaval. Our daily lives have dramatically shifted over the past two years of the pandemic and the years leading up to it. Work and life have blended into some horrific franken-amalgamation the likes of which the world has never before seen. No one has a solid sense of where American politics are headed in the next few years. Nobody is really able to predict what tomorrow will look like.
Herbs cannot solve these big, existential problems, but they can help us cope with the added stress, anxiety, and burnout surrounding it, as well as the detrimental effects these can have on our mental and physical health when sustained for long periods of time.
While there are many herbs available to us for anxiety and stress support, I’ve chosen to list five herbs in particular that can be sustainably grown and harvested in the United States. If you source your herbs from local farms or from apothecaries practicing local sourcing, you’ll find a dramatic increase in the quality and effectiveness of your herbal remedies, and you’ll benefit your neighbors, to boot!
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1. Passionflower — Passiflora incarnata
Other Common Names: apricot vine, maypop
This vine-y, reaching, weedy plant is known primarily for its wild, outer-space-looking flowers and oval fruits. As an herb, we can use both the leaf and flowers as a tea, tincture, or in a topical preparation.
Passionflower is a renowned sleep aid, particularly useful when sleeplessness is a result of anxious, racing thoughts or stress dreams. The plant contains a number of constituents that act as sedatives and anxiolytics (anxiety-breakers), namely C-glycosylflavones and maltol.
Some of these chemical constituents are GABA-mimetic, meaning they share some similarities with alcohol and prescription medicines such as benzodiazepines, popular but addictive anxiety/panic medications, but in a much safer and less addictive package surrounded by a number of other phytochemicals.
Energetically, we describe passionflower as cooling and drying, indicated by its bitter flavor. I also like to use it with clients who are having trouble developing the curiosity necessary to reach for what they want and enter the growth mindset (who are often held back by their own anxious thoughts). If you watch passionflower grow, you’ll see that it will find any way it can to get itself up and over the other plants around it so it can catch those juicy rays of sunlight.
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2. Holy Basil — Ocimum sanctum, O. tenuiflorum
Other Common Names: sacred basil, tulsi
Holy basil, a native of India and close cousin of common culinary basil (O. basilicum), is a remarkably useful but gentle herbal remedy for digestive distress, adrenal fatigue, insulin absorption, and respiratory inflammation. It owes many of these effects to its terpene, flavonoid, and tannin constituents which promote healthy function throughout the body.
As an herbal remedy, holy basil’s adaptogenic properties reduce the effects of stress on the body, both physical and mental, and help protect the nerves in stressful situations. It can also help improve circulation, boosting cerebral blood flow, aiding memory retention and improving brain function.
Its delicious, clove-y smell comes from eugenol, a terpene common in cloves, some cannabis strains, cinnamon, and many other aromatic herbs. Eugenol has proven a useful antiseptic, analgesic, anesthetic, and reliever of gastrointestinal pain and discomfort in clinical studies. Have you ever noticed that your tongue feels a slight numbing sensation when you eat basil? That’s the power of terpenes at work!
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3. German Chamomile — Matricaria recutita, M. chamomilla, Chamomilla recutita
Other Common Names: chamomile, true chamomile
I have very fond memories of chamomile, as it was one of the first herbal remedies I ever picked up and used for myself. As a self-identified wiry stressball, there really is nothing like a nice cup of chamomile tea to calm my nerves. For many people, a cup of chamomile tea can knock them out before bedtime, but for me, chamomile just lets me function like a normal human.
It’s so remarkably calming to irritations, either physically or mentally. In addition to its ability to calm the nerves and promote better sleep, chamomile can also settle an upset stomach and aid in urinary irritations. I’ve used it personally as a compress (just use your warm teabag after you make yourself a cup of tea) to relieve eye irritation, skin irritations, and even a hypertrophic scar that developed after I got my nose pierced.
Chamomile owes its body-wide calming and anti-irritant effects to a number of constituents, but one of particular interest is alpha-bisobolol, a terpene that can also be found in sage and some cannabis strains, which has been shown clinically to reduce the body’s production of cytokines, which promote inflammation. It also is a relaxant, promoting easing of tense muscles and nerves.
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4. Hawthorn — Crataegus spp.
Other Common Names: May thorn, white thorn
Hawthorn is a profound herb, in my opinion. It is loaded with flavonoids, oligomeric proanthocyanidins, and a number of other phytochemicals which work together to effect positive changes on our heart.
Its antioxidant components have been shown clinically to demonstrate cardioprotective effects–that is, they protect the heart’s tissues and cells from damage from free radicals, pesky oxygen-containing molecules that are particularly reactive, causing oxidative stress on your cells.
Many herbalists tend to think of the physical heart as inseparable from the emotional heart, where disturbances in one may cause disturbances in the other, and vice versa. Many herbalists, such as Sajah Popham of the Evolutionary School of Medicine, even consider the heart a sensory organ, capable of electromagnetically sensing and connecting to people, animals, plants, mushrooms, and anything else with an electromagnetic field in the immediate environment. In Chinese medicine, the heart houses the Shen, often translated as “spirit”, “mind”, or “consciousness”, which is, in my understanding, the part of the human organism responsible for your emotions, style of thinking, personality, and so on.
All of this really to say, the heart is one of the most important organs to tend to when thinking about mental health. The heart is so intricately linked to every single part of your body, its health should always be a high priority, whether you’re dealing with mental or physical health issues.
Hawthorn shows promise in assisting those struggling with conditions where inflammation is commonplace, especially when that inflammation and pain affects the mental state. I use it personally to help keep my ADHD symptoms in check, which often involve excess inflammation.
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5. Catnip — Nepeta cataria
Other Common Names: catmint
Catnip is another personal favorite in my toolkit when it comes to strong anxiety and stress, particularly when these feelings are accompanied by a “sour” stomach and tense muscles. It isn’t just for putting cats in a better mood!
Catnip is a popular, gentle remedy for children, too, as it has been used for years as a tea to settle an upset tummy, especially if there are tantrums paired with it.
This is one of few herbs that I have felt work on my mind and body with a very sudden, overtly noticeable effect. In my experience, it will typically take a few days to even weeks or months of regular use to feel the effects of an herb take hold, but I’ve personally felt catnip work much quicker than that, even within seconds.
When I take tincture made from the fresh leaves, I can feel my mind quiet down and my stomach settle almost the same instant I taste it on my tongue.
I once gave my mother a cup of tea from a wild catnip plant growing in her back yard she didn’t know was there. When she took the first sip, she looked up at me, startled, and asked if this was supposed to ease stomach pain, because she felt her stomach unclench immediately.
While I can’t guarantee you’ll feel it just as fast, I have seen catnip work time and time again when the stomach and mind are both in knots.
Larger doses, like chamomile, may make you sleepy, so keep that in mind when using catnip for yourself or others.
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Well, friends, I hope these five herbs can help guide you to greater ease in your life, helping you toward more rest and relaxation, and encouraging you away from chronic stress and burnout.
As always, please seek the advice of a trained clinical herbalist before beginning any herbal regimen or working with an herb at medicinal dosages. The herbs listed here are pretty darn safe, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry!
STRŌB Apothecary is an idea borne from five individuals with a shared goal: a place where herbalism, spirituality and wellness come together in the interest of wholeness for all. Pulling from our varied and lived experiences, STRŌB is here to provide affordable remedies for the mind, body and spirit. Find more info at: https://flow.page/strobapothecary
About Sean:
Sean Rose is an herbalist and one of the five co-founders of STRŌB Apothecary. He is a graduate of the Maryland University of Integrative Health’s Clinical Herbal Medicine program. His relationship with plants began when he was just a child, living on the banks of the Greenbrier River, spending his days beneath the boughs of a gigantic willow tree. In his free time, he enjoys reading, gaming, writing, and of course, enjoying a delicious cup of herbal tea. Find more information about him at https://flow.page/tenderhearted.love
Please find more information about STRŌB Apothecary and its founders at www.strobapothecary.com/about
