Moving on to Valerian. This has literally been around in us for thousands of years and has really about 100 chemical compounds that scientists have been able to isolate. From the valerian root. It's actually the underground part of the stem and the root that is used and, and has the active ingredients. The technical name of scientific name is Valerie Ana officiant Alice so a little bit of a tongue twister but you'll find it in the form of Larian or valerian root. And so the active ingredients are listed there.

It's not so important that you know that the names of these acids but the important thing is that these compounds have a sedative effect. Oh, and the other thing is, it stinks. It really does. When you smell it for the first time you'll really question about whether or not you want to take it as a as a sleep aid or supplement. But just be aware that's just a normal property of it. It's nothing wrong with the preparation of the manufacturing process.

It just I've tried various forms various manufacturers have Larian roads and they all stink some of the other side effects actually are beneficial. They alleviate headaches, and it can help with menstrual cramps and intestinal cramps just helps with relaxing some of the smooth muscle. And that's probably why it works for restless legs. And also some for muscle spasms, obviously skeletal muscle but also works in that fashion. It really is a sleep booster and here's how it works. It decreases the time to fall asleep that in scientific terms of sleep latency, so it improves sleep latency, and it helps to decrease nighttime awakenings overall as an increased quality of sleep.

The mechanisms a little bit unclear we think probably works through Gabba talks about that and some of the other modules which is an hit and inhibitory neurotransmitter so it helps to kind of shut things down to help you sleep. So the dosing I mean it varies widely. There's really not any clear cut guidelines because every preparation is a little different in terms of concentrations So, from the literature if it's consumed in the form of tea, recommended as one cup up to three cups daily, obviously, probably more beneficial in the evenings prior to bed as opposed to you know in the morning when you're trying to get moving and motivated. So, it also comes in a simple tincture and a concentrated tincture. Most often it's combined with other sleep aids or sleep products, which I've talked about in some previous modules. People who should avoid the Larian Well, if a person's taking other CNS agents that are sedating, mental diazepam, or neurologic medications for other conditions like Parkinson's or seizures, generally should avoid hilarion.

And if the task involves, you know, mental concentration or driving heavy equipment or machinery, definitely avoid hilarion. And for people who are undergoing treatment for anxiety and depression, there's some synergistic effects in terms of sedation with some of the anti precedent anxiety medications, which makes it better to avoid Larian, and those those particular people, and do not give this to kids. It's not It's not safe for kids. This course obviously is for adults with sleep disruption. But many of you may know children at times also have trouble sleeping. So that wraps up to the Larian part.