Ginseng

Why Do People Use Ginseng?

The word Panax comes the Greek word meaning "all-healing". In much of Asia, ginseng is prized as a revitalizer for the whole body. This is partly due to the shape of the root, which resembles the human body.

Mental and Physical Performance

Ginseng is known as an adaptogen, which means it increases resistance to physical, chemical, and biological stress and builds energy and general vitality.

Immune Function

A study examined 323 people who had had at least two colds in the prior year. Participants were instructed to take two capsules per day of either the North American ginseng extract or a placebo for a period of four months.

The mean number of colds per person was lower in the ginseng group than in the placebo group. The proportion of subjects with two or more colds during the four-month period was significantly lower in the ginseng group than in the placebo group, as were the total symptom score and the total number of days cold symptoms were reported for all colds.

Diabetes

In one study, Panax ginseng in dosages of 100 or 200 milligrams were given to 36 people with newly-diagnosed non-insulin dependent diabetes. After eight weeks, there were improvements in fasting blood glucose levels, mood, and psychophysical performance. The 200 milligram dose also resulted in improved hemoglobin A1C levels (a test that measures how well blood sugar has been controlled during the previous three months).

Erectile Dysfunction

In one research study of 90 men with erectile dysfunction, 60% of the participants reported improvement in their symptoms compared with 30% of those using the placebo. Unlike prescription drugs for erectile dysfunction which are usually taken when needed, ginseng only appears to be useful for erectile dysfunction if taken on a continuous basis.

Dosage

The dosage often used in research studies is 200 mg a day of a standardized ginseng extract.

Some traditional herbalists recommend using ginseng for no more than three weeks at a time, followed by a one to two week rest period.
Side Effects and Safety of Ginseng

Pregnant or nursing women or children should avoid ginseng. People with hormone-dependent illnesses such as endometriosis, uterine fibroids, or cancers of the breast, ovaries, uterus, or prostate should avoid Panax ginseng because it may have estrogenic effects.

Panax ginseng may decrease the rate and force of heartbeats, so it shouldn't be used by people with heart disease unless under the supervision of a healthcare providers.

Ginseng may lower blood sugar levels, so it shouldn't be taken by people with diabetes unless under a doctor's supervision. Ginseng may worsen insomnia.

Side effects of ginseng may include nervousness, agitation, insomnia, diarrhea, headaches, high blood pressure, and heart palpitations.
Herb-Drug Interactions

Ginseng can increase the effect of blood-thinners (antiplatelet or anti-clotting drugs), such as clopidogrel, ticlopidine (Ticlid), warfarin (Coumadin), heparin, and aspirin, which may result in uncontrolled bleeding or hemorrhage. Certain herbs, such as danshen, devil's claw, eleuthero, garlic, ginger, horse chestnut, papain, red clover, and saw palmetto, can also increase the risk of bleeding if combined with ginseng.

Ginseng may affect heart rhythm and can increase potential side effects from theophylline (and similar asthma drugs), albuterol, clonidine, sildenafil citrate (Viagra).

Panax ginseng may interact with insulin and other drugs for diabetes, such as metformin (Glucophage), glyburide (Glynase), glimepiride (Amaryl), and glipizide (Glucotrol XL).

Ginseng may interfere with the metabolism of monoamine oxidase inhibitors such as phenelzine sulfate (Nardil), tranylcypromine sulfate (Parnate) and isocabaxazid (Marplan). It's also believed to affect levels of neurotransmitters (chemicals that carry messages from nerve cells to other cells) and may interact with antipsychotic drugs such as chlorpromazine (Thorazine) and fluphenazine (Prolixin).

Ginseng stimulates the central nervous system, so it may increase the effects of prescription drugs that do the same (such as medications for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, narcolepsy, and obesity. The combination may raise heart rate and blood pressure.

Ginseng has been found to interfere with the metabolism of drugs processed by an enzyme called cyp3A4. Ask your doctor to check if you are taking medications of this type.

Reference: http://altmedicine.about.com/od/ginseng/a/ginseng.htm

Galangal

Resembling ginger in its effects, galangal is an aromatic stimulant, carminative and stomachic. It is used against nausea, flatulence, dyspepsia, rheumatism, catarrh and enteritis. It also possesses tonic and antibacterial qualities and is used for these properties in veterinary and homeopathic medicine. In India it is used as a body deodorizer and halitosis remedy. Both galangals have been used in Europe and Asia as an aphrodisiac for centuries. Gerard (1597) says: ‘they conduce to venery, and heate the too cold reines (loins)’.

Reference: http://www.theepicentre.com/Spices/galangal.html

Ginkgo biloba

Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) is one of the oldest living tree species and its leaves are among the most extensively studied botanicals in use today. In Europe and the United States, ginkgo supplements are among the best-selling herbal medications. It consistently ranks as a top medicine prescribed in France and Germany.

Ginkgo has been used in traditional medicine to treat circulatory disorders and enhance memory. Scientific studies throughout the years have found evidence to support these uses. Although not all studies agree, ginkgo may be especially effective in treating dementia (including Alzheimer's disease) and intermittent claudication (poor circulation in the legs). It also shows promise for enhancing memory in older adults. Laboratory studies have shown that ginkgo improves blood circulation by dilating blood vessels and reducing the stickiness of blood platelets.

Ginkgo leaves contain two types of chemicals (flavonoids and terpenoids) believed to have potent antioxidant properties. Antioxidants are substances that scavenge free radicals -- compounds in the body that damage cell membranes, tamper with DNA, and even cause cell death. Free radicals occur naturally in the body and grow in number as we age. But environmental toxins (including ultraviolet light, radiation, cigarette smoking, and air pollution) can also increase the number of free radicals. Free radicals are believed to contribute to health problems including heart disease and cancer as well as Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. Antioxidants such as those found in ginkgo can help neutralize free radicals and may reduce or even help prevent some of the damage they cause.

Reference: http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/ginkgo-biloba-000247.htm

Garlic

Garlic's health benefits and medicinal properties have long been known (1). Garlic has long been considered a herbal "wonder drug", with a reputation in folklore for preventing everything from the common cold and flu to the Plague! It has been used extensively in herbal medicine (phytotherapy, sometimes spelt phitotherapy). Raw garlic is used by some to treat the symptoms of acne and there is some evidence that it can assist in managing high cholesterol levels. It can even be effective as a natural mosquito repellent.

In general, a stronger tasting clove of garlic has more sulphur content and hence more medicinal value it's likely to have. Some people have suggested that organically grown garlic tends towards a higher sulphur level and hence greater benefit to health. In my experience it certainly tastes better so I buy organic whenever possible whether or not it's best for my health.

Some people prefer to take garlic supplements. These pills and capsules have the advantage of avoiding garlic breath.

Modern science has shown that garlic is a powerful natural antibiotic, albeit broad-spectrum rather than targeted. The body does not appear to build up resistance to the garlic, so its positive health benefits continue over time.

Reference: http://www.garlic-central.com/garlic-health.html

Remember the 7 "G"s

Garlic, Galangal, Ginger, Ginkgo biloba, Ginseng, Gotu kola, and Granola.

Wake Up

Fix your diet.

Diet and sleep are inextricably intertwined. If you think you can master your sleeping habits without improving your diet, you’re deluding yourself. Seriously.

Unfortunately most people — Americans especially — consume a truly hideous diet these days, filled with hormone-laden animal products, artificial ingredients, sugar, caffeine, salt, white flour, and heavily processed junk. An unhealthy diet will tax your endocrine system (which is responsible for hormone production), and that is going to prevent you from enjoying restful sleep.

What works well for me is a whole foods vegan diet, heavy on the raw fruits and veggies. When I went vegetarian in 1993, I was able to feel well rested with less sleep, and I woke up feeling more alert. Then when I went fully vegan in 1997, there was another improvement. As I explained in Why Vegan, the energy difference is the primary reason I converted to such a diet.

Just as you may wake up with a hangover if you consume too much alcohol, you’ll suffer from other types of hangovers if you consume mood-altering substances. Two of the worst are sugar and caffeine. If your diet is high in caffeine and/or sugar (especially in the forum of corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup), do yourself a favor and conduct a 30-day trial without them. I notice that if I have just one cup of coffee in the morning, I won’t sleep as deeply the following night, it will take me much longer to fall asleep, and I’ll wake up feeling a lot more groggy — almost 24 hours later. (For specific ideas on quitting coffee, see How to Give Up Coffee.)

If you’ve been messing with your physiology by consuming excessive sugar, caffeine, processed foods, etc, I highly recommend you fix your diet first before attempting to master your sleep habits. Otherwise you’re only going to frustrate yourself. Two and a half years of feedback from readers attempting to become early risers has taught me it’s almost a rule that waking up groggy and eating a crappy diet go hand in hand. Keep in mind that in the USA, the average diet is an extremely crappy diet. I think that’s why people who wake up before dawn feeling totally alert tend to be considered overachievers, freaks, or genetically gifted. From the early risers’ perspective, it seems like everyone else is drugging themselves into a stupor.

At the opposite extreme, people who are fasting often report needing much less sleep. I had a friend who was really into juice fasting, and he told me he’d only sleep about 4 hours a night during a fast.

I encourage you to experiment to find the best diet for you, which may or may not be similar to mine. Find out which manner of eating helps you feel best in the morning. I could overload you with all sorts of dietary statistics, but I don’t suggest you model your diet on statistics. Let personal experimentation be your guide, and notice how you feel when you eat different types of food for an extended period – and especially how you feel when you wake up each morning. If you awaken feeling totally groggy, try eating different foods for a while.

Eat lightly at night.

This could be considered a corollary to the above, but it’s important enough that it deserves special attention. If your body must digest a heavy meal while you’re sleeping, your sleep will not be as restorative, and you’re far more likely to wake up groggy the next morning.

Social conditioning may have taught you that a big dinner is the way to go, but for the real truth, you must consult your body. Even if you’re not a strict vegetarian, I highly recommend you try steering clear of animal foods for your evening meal. They take the longest amount of time to digest and are very likely to make you groggy the next morning.

Fresh fruit is perhaps the ideal food to eat for your last meal, especially low-sugar fruits like tomatoes, avocados, peppers, and cantaloupe. Personally I’m not a big fan of having nothing but fruit for dinner, but when I do, I usually don’t need as much sleep, and I almost always wake up feeling more alert. So regardless of what my mind has to say about it, my body clearly likes it.

A very close second choice for an evening meal would be fresh veggies, especially a big salad. After that would be lightly cooked veggies. The less processed your evening meal, the less energy it will take to digest, and the less it will disrupt your physiology. If you eat crap before bed, you can expect to feel like crap in the morning.

You’ve probably heard the advice that you should stop eating at least 2-3 hours before bedtime. If you normally eat a heavy dinner, that advice will help a little. But I can eat a large fruit or veggie salad right before bed, and it doesn’t seem to disrupt my sleep. I think it’s because our bodies are so well suited for fruit and veggie consumption. Such meals require very little energy to digest compared to other foods, so they don’t strain our internal resources and disrupt our sleep.

This is an area where I encourage you to experiment a lot. Try eating a very light dinner tonight, and see how you feel the next morning.

Exercise daily.

Even before I went vegetarian, I noticed a major improvement in my sleep patterns when I started exercising aerobically on a daily basis. I suppose the current term for aerobic exercise is “cardio,” but I don’t like that word because it invariably triggers my trendy-words-that-make-me-vomit filter. It’s right up there with Web 2.0.

You’ve probably heard this advice before, but there’s a difference between hearing advice and applying it. So go apply it, and get thine ass to the gym. At the very least, run around the block for 25 minutes each morning. If you don’t do it, you don’t know it.

When I’m exercising aerobically every day for at least 20 minutes, I can shave a good hour off my sleep each night, which more than compensates for the exercise time. I wake up feeling more alert and energetic too. But the best part is that I enjoy better concentration and alertness all day long. It works way better than caffeine… and without the crash.

I’ve also done weight training for months at a time, both with and without aerobic exercise. Despite the other benefits of weight training, by itself it doesn’t seem to benefit my sleep patterns and morning alertness. It doesn’t seem to hurt my sleep either though, even when I’ve trained vigorously with major soreness.

Be aware that marketers frequently attempt to manipulate exercise trends to boost product sales. You won’t normally see inexpensive exercises like running getting much promotional attention (unless it’s to sell you an iPod to listen to while running). Try not to be swayed by the marketing fluff, and go with what works for you, whether it’s trendy or not. If you feel compelled to spend money on your health, buy the best organic produce you can find, and keep your daily exercise cheap and simple.

Get up at the same time every day, including weekends.

This was mentioned in the original early riser article. Getting up at the same time every day is pretty important when you’re first establishing the habit of early rising. In the beginning it’s too easy to fall off track, so I suggest that you get up at the same time every single day for at least 30 days. If you feel compelled to sleep in on weekends, you’re probably doing something wrong. Again, it should feel good to get up early. If you’re doing it because you want to, and it’s working, it will feel normal and natural to do it every day. If you think you need a cheat day, something is definitely off. Why would you cheat yourself out of something you like doing?

After you’ve been waking up energized for at least a month to establish the habit, doing it every single day isn’t critical. If I want to stay out late one night, I might sleep in until 6:30 or 7:00 the next morning. But the next day I’m back on schedule with no trouble. My normal bedtime is between 10 and 11pm, but I can stay up well past 1am without much difficulty if something stimulating is happening.

Last week Erin and I were in New York City, and my sleep schedule was all over the place during the trip. Some mornings we got up early, while other days we slept in until 8am. But upon returning to Vegas, I had no trouble getting back on my original sleep schedule. New York City (Eastern Time) is 3 hours ahead of Las Vegas (Pacific Time), so I was normally waking up earlier than usual on this trip. I’m not sure how easy it would be to re-adapt if we went to Hawaii instead. I’ll have to test that soon. :)

I recommend using an alarm clock unless you can set very reliable mental alarms. I still use an alarm clock every morning, but now it’s more of a conditioning maintenance device rather than a wake-up device. I probably don’t need an alarm to keep getting up early at a relatively consistent time, but since I conditioned myself to get up when the alarm goes off, it’s just part of my routine. I haven’t put much effort into building skill with mental alarms, largely because the alarm clock solution already works fine.

Go to bed only when you’re sleepy.

This was also mentioned in the first early riser article. Instead of going to bed at a fixed time each night, stay up until you’re sleepy.

If you’re lying awake at night for 30 minutes or more trying to fall asleep, I’d say you’ve gone to bed too early. Get up and read for a while. When you start to nod off while reading, it’s time for bed.

Most nights I can fall asleep within a few minutes after lying down. If I’m not sleepy, I stay up until I am. Sometimes I’m ready to crash at 9:30. Other times I’ll stay up until 11:30. But most of the time the onset of sleepiness occurs pretty close to the same time, which for me is between 10 and 10:30. I perceive it as a gentle nudging that tells me if I lie down, I’ll be able to fall asleep fast.

In the first early riser article, I explained that if you start going to bed when you’re sleepy and get up at a fixed time each morning, your body will eventually adapt. For clarity I should add the caveat, “… if you aren’t excessively screwing with your biochemistry.” Much of the feedback I’ve received tells me that most people can adapt to becoming early risers within about 3-5 days. That’s how long it takes them to hone in on a fairly consistent bedtime that gives them enough sleep to feel well-rested the next morning and not feel sleep deprived during the day. However, the ones who eat a really poor diet or who drink alcohol every night rarely make it past the third day; they almost invariably give up.

Develop a pleasant morning routine.

If you don’t like the way you spend your mornings, you may suffer the problem of waking up without getting up. A good morning routine can help remedy that. It’s important to have something to look forward to that makes you eager to get out of bed.

My usual morning routine is pretty basic, but it works for me. After I get up, I shave and put on my gym clothes. Then I head for the gym, do my workout, return home, shower, and dress. After that I’ll usually talk to Erin and the kids for a bit and have breakfast.

I like going to the gym, so it serves as a good reason to get out of bed. I know that exercising will leave me feeling even more energized.

This is a rich place for experimentation. Some people like getting up and working on a home-based business for an hour or two. Others like to meditate first thing in the morning. In this particular area, the rule is to do whatever works for you. If playing your favorite video game for an hour helps motivate you to get out of bed early, try it for a few days and see how it goes.

If your morning routine ever becomes boring, change it. Any effective routine may eventually stop working for you. Do whatever is necessary to keep it interesting.

What about an evening routine? It’s common advice that having a relaxing routine for winding down before bed will improve your sleep. For me it doesn’t seem to make much difference. I can enjoy a lot of variety and activity in my evenings, and I still sleep just fine and wake up alert. A stable evening routine can help compensate for a stressful lifestyle, but otherwise I don’t think it’s that important. Feel free to experiment with an evening shutdown process to see what works best for you.

Make it so!

Early morning alertness is a great habit to develop, and it will serve you well for decades. Don’t settle for that no man’s land of waking up groggy while your chemically wrecked body refuses to budge. Mastering your mornings will set the tone for your entire day. Once you’ve experienced how good it feels, you’ll never want to go back.

Reference: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/10/how-to-wake-up-feeling-totally-alert/

Morihei Ueshiba

Morihei Ueshiba (植芝 盛平, Ueshiba Morihei?, December 14, 1883–April 26, 1969) was a famous martial artist and founder of the Japanese martial art of aikido. He is often referred to as Kaiso (開祖?), meaning "founder", or Ōsensei, "Great Teacher".

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morihei_Ueshiba
See also: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxxb2ctulEs&feature=related