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You are welcome to submit your questions regarding natural health. However, we receive many questions each week and we are only able to publish a few.
All questions will be answered within a "general advice" format in the column only. As health problems require the personal advice of a health care professional, we are unable to answer questions personally.
Karima Burns, MH, ND has a Doctorate in Naturopathy and a Masters in Herbal Healing. She has studied natural healing for 12 years, published a natural healing newsletter for 4 years, and writes extensively on natural healing and herbs. Sister Karima became interested in natural healing after ending her personal lifelong struggle with asthma, allergies, chronic ear infections, depression, hypoglycemia, fatigue and panic attacks with herbs and natural therapies.
Karima offers natural healing consultations, aromatherapy and reflexology treatments, iridology readings, and nutritional and herbal programs from her home in Saudi Arabia. She believes that healing occurs more rapidly when her clients can work on the physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of their illnesses.
Dear Health Editor,
I am having trouble sleeping? What herbs should I take?
H.S., Illinois
Dear H.S.,
There are many herbs and natural remedies that can help you to sleep. However, first you need to make sure you have covered the "common sense" rules. The body follows a natural rhythm every day, and the evening and night times are traditionally the times that we should relax.
Just as our prayers follow the rhythm of the sun, so do our bodies and we need to honor that rhythm. Even the Prophet himself (SAW) used to retire shortly after Isha prayer so he could rise early for Fajr prayer in the morning time. Many textbooks recommend sleeping at "the same time" each day; however, this may not work if "the same time" is darker or lighter at various times of year.
Science shows that our bodies send out sleep signals based on their sense of light or darkness, rather than according to the hands of the clock. Thus, coordinating your day according to prayer times rather than the clock is more effective.
To sleep well at night, you should honor these rhythms and keep your evening activities and diet within the "relaxing" realm. You cannot expect to feed your body highly stimulating foods (meats, ice cream, sugar, coffee or sodas) or highly stimulating activities (adventure films, arguments or paperwork), and then expect it to welcome a "trip to dreamland."
If you think and worry a lot at night, keep a notebook by your bed to write down all the thoughts that are filling your head. Say "Bismillah" and then vow to deal with the problems in those morning. You should also check the room for scents, sounds, and sights that may bother you. Complete darkness without any lights is the ideal way to sleep. Furthermore, a room that smells of perfume, air-fresheners, scented candles, or soap may keep you awake. You should also make sure you are comfortable in the bed.
You need to figure out how many hours of sleep YOU need and try to get that amount each night. Some people need 6 hours of sleep while others need 9. You may need to change the way you think about sleep. Many people view it as a waste of time or an indulgence; yet, sleep is really an investment in your health and energy levels for the next day. The better you sleep, the more productive, less depressed and more able to perform your duties you will be the next day.
Relaxing evening foods are oatmeal, salads, warm soups, milk, sandwiches, and crackers with cheese, herbal teas, and vegetables. Foods that make it hard to sleep or stay asleep are sugary foods like candy or baked treats, ice cream, hamburgers and beef, cereal and other processed foods, and coffee, tea, alcohol, or sodas. Sugary juices and cigarettes should also be avoided in the evening for at least 3 hours before bedtime. If you have taken all the above precautions and you still cannot sleep, try some of the following remedies:
Herbs
Sleep remedies are best taken from one half hour to one hour before bedtime, and best taken in combination with each other because some will help you GET to sleep while others will help you STAY asleep. Mild remedies include wood betony, motherwort, chamomile, lemon balm, linden, and red clover. Balm, linden, and chamomile are popular sleep remedies with children.
Medium strength remedies include pasque flower, mugwort, motherwort, skullcap, and vervain. Strong remedies include California poppy, hops, wild lettuce, passionflower, and valerian. Of course, no remedy should become a regular habit. If you cannot get to sleep without the aid of remedies on a regular basis, you need to see a health care professional.
Essential Oils
Essential oils can be burned in the bedroom, infused into the pillow or sheets, and even used as an evening massage oil for a spouse or child. You can use lavender, chamomile, clary sage, vetiver, hops, or valerian to help you sleep. In fact, many babies will go to sleep instantly after a chamomile tummy rub. To use essential oils as massage oils, add two drops of the essential oil per teaspoon of a rubbing oil. To use essential oils in a bath, drop three drops into the bath water. To infuse pillowcases with scent, throw a towel with some drops of oil on it in the dryer for five minutes with a pillowcase.
Dear Health Editor,
I love reading, especially magazines. Should I use the health tips I find in them? Sometimes they have nice recipes, herbal remedies and diet programs.
I.A., Saudi Arabia
Dear I.A.,
I love magazines myself, and I find many articles in them very useful. However, you must approach all information you receive with a bit of caution. This is true of any information you find on the web, in new books, and in newspapers and magazines. I find the following guidelines useful when self-editing what I read:
- Chose good sources. This should be the first thing you do. Don't read health information in your local newspaper or off the "wires" or off any press unless you know WHO has written it, what their qualifications are, what they have written before, and what their sources are. Take a look at some of the books you have read recently. Many popular books were written by graduate students or first time writers who lack experience and research ability. You may read works by these same people ten years later when they are far more mature and have "changed their mind about things." A lot of health information picks up on new research ideas before clinical tests have been finished, or they been contested or approved by peers.
- Have a standard to compare against. Reading is one way to find out what you believe, but you need to have some sort of idea about the subject matter before you start as well. Qur'an and Hadith provide many health guidelines against which you can measure anything you read. Your general faith in Islam should be a checkpoint for what you read as well.
- Double-check serious information. If you see a nice recipe that has familiar ingredients, you are obviously safe with it. But if you read an article that provides information that is completely new or conflicts with a "fact" in your mind, you need to double check the information.
- Compare information against established health guidelines. Some things have never changed for thousands of years. People have always found vegetables an invaluable part of their diet; people have always used honey, garlic, and vinegar; they have always used herbs; and excessive eating of anything has historically caused numerous problems. Obviously, if you read any information that advocates you to lessen your vegetable intake, or to eat one item excessively, you would want to question this information.
- Don't be a Guinea pig unless you have to. Some new trends and ideas have such extreme side effects that it is probably advisable to wait a few years to "hop on the bandwagon." Search for established remedies and health methods rather than being too eager to try something new. Often times, it is our lack of effort to search for what is already available that causes us to try something new. Usually a solution already exists - we just have to look for it.
- Read old literature and news. We get caught up in thinking that there is something better out there and we are just waiting for someone to discover it. In reality, there is probably more unused good information from the past than new information waiting to be discovered in the future. Your public library contains a number of herbal and health "classics" that are as valuable today as they were 50 or 1,000 years ago. The Qur'an and Hadith also provide invaluable health information.
- Know the classics first. Before you venture into reading "news" and new books and information, it is valuable to know the classics in the field first. These books and people have usually stood the test of time (some hundreds of years). A good way to find out what the "classics" are is to ask a librarian, enroll in a course of study at a natural health college, or buy books that have been republished.
- Read sister literature. Did you know that McDougall and Ornish are similar and that the trend actually started with Pritkin and others before him? It may widen your view to read all of the involved players rather than just one.
- Don't let someone else think for you. If someone says, "You should not eat potatoes; you should only eat raw turnips, or you should use this product," do some research yourself before you actually follow their advice!
- Don't believe everything you read. A lot of what is written is incorrect or is an attempt to market a new product. There is no such thing as a "writing police" and in this age of information freedom and availability, anyone can publish anything and they do. Much of what you find in the mainstream press is the result of advertisers lobbying the press with the information THEY want you to read. Much of the press corps is too busy and overworked to look for new information themselves.
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