What if we told you there is a herb that belongs to the mint family, grows effortlessly and has quite a few beneficial uses for your health. Well, there is and that herb is Lemon Balm.
Originating in Europe, Asia, the Mediterranean and Iran, it’s been used for over 2000 years and has been used in food, medicine, perfumes and skincare and is reported to contain sedative, antistress, antianxiety, and mood-enhancing abilities.
It was also found to ease digestion, nausea, sleep disorders, depression, and headaches, among many other problems and you can eat it in your favourite salad or drink it as a tea or tincture.
Why We Like Lemon Balm
We’ve been doing a lot of research over the last 5 years or so and learning about more natural ways to look after ourselves and Lemon Balm was something we came across.
This was only a recent find btw and the thing we like about it is how easy it grows. If you’ve ever tried to grow mint at home, you will know what I mean. It seems to double in about 2 weeks (under the right conditions) and this makes it easy to harvest weekly to use fresh or hang it up to dry.
It smells amazing (unlike me according to Sony) and is very easy to prepare whether it’s fresh or dried. I just love to pick it and scrunch a couple of leaves together, OMG!
At the moment we are making tea out of fresh leaves and dried leaves, drying them seems to give a stronger flavour than using fresh leaves but still has the same effect.
Lemon Balm for Sleep
We are not as young as we used to be and over the years, I think we all develop habits that affect our sleep, especially that early morning deep sleep. You know, waking up for the dunny break in the middle of the night and then start thinking of all that “stuff” that you wonder “why is this running through my head”.
Then you’re counting sheep and trying to organise your day tomorrow and sleep is the last thing that’s going to happen, this is why we are trying lemon balm tea.
My early thoughts on this is that there’s definitely something in it that appears to help getting into that deeper sleep that restores and repairs your body. Also getting back to sleep seems to be a lot quicker and no need to count sheep, at least not yet.
In the morning, we are normally up at 5.00am but we have had a couple of mornings where we’ve slept through. Not by much but enough to make you think, phew, what happened there.
I must say, waking up feeling like I’ve actually had a good night’s sleep, and a few aches seemed to have disappeared, now that’s something I’ll take any day.
Why Does Lemon Balm Help with Sleep
Apparently the reason it helps with sleep is because it has been shown to improve mood and cognitive performance, helps reduce stress and has Anxiolytic effects.
This refers to the ability of a medication to reduce stress, anxiety and fear. This is achieved by enhancing the activity of GABA – gamma-aminobutyric acid, the brain’s main inhibiting neurotransmitter.
I’m guessing it is stops sending those crazy thought signals through the night that tend to keep me awake and allows me to have a much more relaxed sleep, that’s my take on it.
How Do You Take Lemon Balm
This is as easy as having a cup of Lemon Balm tea 1 – 2 hours before bedtime (not too late though or you might be up peeing a bit).
We always have a couple of stashes of lemon balm tied up to dry ready for making into a tea. I have used fresh lemon balm, but this uses at least twice as much.
How to Make Lemon Balm Tea
I’m glad you asked, easy peasy is the answer. We take our dried lemon balm and strip the leaves off the stems (smells freaking awesome) and chop into smaller pieces.
I normally grab the leaves off 1 or 2 stems and chop them with a knife and place into a tea infuser and pour almost boiling water over it.
Apparently, some herbal teas lose a bit of their effectiveness if steeped in water that is too hot, I just boil the jug and leave it for 5 minutes or so to come down in temperature a bit then pour over.
Let the lemon balm steep for 5-7 minutes to extract all the goodness out before drinking. By this time the temperature is just right (for me it is).
Well, that’s it from me now and I’ll keep testing our newfound herbal tea and keep you posted.
Recent Comments