By Dana Driscoll

“I’m really nervous!”

“You are getting on my nerves.”

“My nerves are shot.”

            These are common statements that we use to describe when we are stressed, anxious, overwhelmed, or even annoyed.  But what actually are our nerves? And how might we use herbs to support our nerves in a good way?  In this article, we explore how the nervous system works and what happens when we experience prolonged stress, a holistic approach for supporting your nervous system, and three categories of nerve herbs to support your nerves.

What is the nervous system and how does it work?

             The nervous system includes your brain, spinal cord and nerves themselves, which are bundles of fibers that basically act as the body’s electrical system, sending messages between the brain and the rest of the body.  The “automatic nervous system” coordinates all of the activity throughout the body and is “automatic” in the sense that is completely outside of conscious control. The automatic nervous system maintains and governs the vital functions of the body, such as breathing, circulation, digestion, and heart rate. It has two modes: the sympathetic (fight or flight) and the parasympathetic (rest and digest).

            The parasympathetic nervous system slows all of the above functions down, and increases our sexual functions and digestion.  This is not only the place where we are able to rest and relax, but also where much of our deep healing happens—the body works to absorb more nutrients, build its reserves, and heal damage.

            Earlier in human history, the sympathetic nervous system was used to get us out of immediate danger—our bodies would respond to immediate danger by increasing our heart rate, heart contraction, and raising blood pressure; diverting blood to skeletal muscles; stimulating the brain; speeding breathing; dilating pupils; releasing adrenalin; and releasing the body’s stores of fat and glucose. In this state, anything that’s not immediately needed for survival, including our digestive system, our immune system and inflammatory responses, and our sexual organs, are essentially shut down.

How does prolonged stress affect our nervous system?  

            The problem for modern humans is that stress doesn’t work like it did in earlier points in human history. Most stress is not stress we can just run away from and relax—rather, its continual and grating, activating our sympathetic nervous system. This includes feelings of being overwhelmed, overworked, depressed, and isolated these are key signs that our body is in a continual sympathetic nervous system state. Due to modern demands, we make things worse by pushing our bodies to go even further using common stimulants (sugar, coffee, caffeine, energy drinks—in fact, caffeine mimics adrenaline in the body). Prolonged stress responses encourage the adrenal glands to produce a hormone called cortisol into the blood, which again mobilizes stored glucose and fat, suppresses the inflammatory response (how the body can heal from damage), and taxing the liver.

What happens with long-term and chronic stress?

            If the body continues to face stress long-term, the body responds with a “general adaptation syndrome”with adrenal glands releasing all of the cortisone they can. Long-term exposure to cortisol taxes the liver and can lead to digestive problems, muscular tension, poor joint health, high blood pressure, various reproductive system issues. This essentially puts us in a situation where our bodies are chronically stressed.

            Eventually, if this goes on long enough, the body is exhausted and suffers what is known as adrenal fatigue (this may also be called adrenal burnout or adrenal exhaustion). This term typically describes a set of symptoms tied to long-term and chronic stress.  In this state, our bodies have severely decreased ability to deal with stress, mental and physical exhaustion, and higher susceptibility to illness and disease. We may have other symptoms: extreme tiredness (especially when you are waking up, even if you get good sleep), body aches, loss of appetite, lightheadedness, craving salt, or depression. If you are feeling exhausted when you are relaxing, you know that your body has been running in sympathetic mode long term.

            Because so many people are running on General Adaptation Syndrome, when they finally do get back to a parasympathetic state, they immediately fall ill and feel exhausted—this is feeling the true state of affairs in the body.  Given healing, herbs, and lifestyle changes, this can pass.

Nervine Herbs for the Nervous System

            The word “nervine” has a number of uses in herbalism, but the most common is that it is a general term that describes herbs that have some effect on the nervous system. We recognize that there are many different categories of nervines—some relax us, some knock us out, and others energize us.  Choosing a nervine is based on the energetics of how stress manifests in the body—think about the person’s specific nervous state (agitated or withdrawn, for example) for selecting the right herbs and category of herbs.

Relaxing Nervines

These are plants that help relax the nervous system and are calming in nature. Many relaxing nervines are “Trophorestorative,” meaning they work over longer periods of time and build with use,  having a long-term tonic effect with regular use. Some of our favorite relaxing nervines are:

• Milky oats / Oatsraw (Avena sativa): Oats are a wonderful relaxing nervine trophorestorative that nourish and support the nervous system, help alleviate stress, anxiety, and depression, and can also help boost brain function such as memory, attention, and concentration.  Milky oats refers to the oats that are prepared medicinally (such as in an alcohol-based tincture form) when the oat seed is ripe and full of milk; oatstraw refers to the dried seeds, leaves, and stems of the oat plant.  You can even build oatmeal into your diet more regularly for ongoing support.
• Lavender (Lavendula officinalis):  A nervine that works on the mind, helping gain clarity as well as relaxing the mind.  Can also be used to help people sleep effectively as it quiets the mind (and lavender is particularly effective for this purpose combined with hops and/or valerian, see below).
• Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis): Lemon balm is a fantastic nervine and functions as a trophorestorative because it has broad relaxant action.  Lemon balm is good for people who are downtrodden and/or feeling detached—lemon balm uplifts the spirits and helps deal with melancholia. When combined with catnip, lemon balm also good for people who are overstimulated and feel hyper. Lemon balm is good for tension-based migraines, insomnia, and anxiety induced heart palpitations. In addition Lemonbalm is anti-herpetic and anti-viral so if you tend to get cold sores, shingles or herpes outbreaks when you a stressed out then this is a great choice of herb for you!
• Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora): Skullcap functions both short term as well as long-term as a troporestorative and has a stronger relaxant effect than the other herbs on this list.  It effectively soothes nervous tension while renewing and revivifying the central nervous system.  It is useful for any condition associated with exhaustion or depressed states, and can be used for premenstrual tension.  Good for hysteria, restless sleep, nightmares, and insomnia.  Also good for irritability and crankiness or emotional reactivity.
• St. Johns Wort (Hypericum perforatum).  St. Johns Wort functions as a nervine tonic, soothing the nervous system and calming the emotions, reducing depression, and brightening the spirits.  St. Johns Wort specifically affects neurotransmitters in your brain, such as serotonin, dopamine, and noradrenaline, which regulate mood, motivation, alertness, and energy levels, bringing them into balance.  St. Johns also has anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and mild relaxant effects.

Sedative Nervines

Sedative nervines are plants that allow us to experience more deep relaxation and can aid in sleep. Most of these plants have a very “skunky” quality, meaning that they smell slightly dank but often delicious.  Most sedatives should be used in the short-term relief:

• Valerian (Valerian officinalis): Valerian is good for someone who is hyper alert, anxious, panicky, fidgety, and/or worried. It is really fantastic for people who have anxiety and nervous sleeplessness, bodily symptoms of tension (such as muscle cramping and indigestion).  Use anytime in which tension and anxiety cause problems, either psychological or physical. Note that Valerian works wonderfully for about 8 of 10 people, but for the other 2 of 10, it may be very stimulating. Valerian is best used for in the short term.
• Passionflower (Passiflora Incarata):  Nervine trophorestorative and gentle sedatitive meaning that this offers long-term nervous support.  This is one of our favorite nervines and is all around good for people who carry around excess stress and have difficulty releasing it.
• Catnip (Nepeta cataria):  Catnip is a nervine sedative, relaxant, and digestive relaxant.   Catnip is safe for the whole family (including children) and is particularly good for hyperactive kids including helping them go to sleep. Catnip is also good for for people who hold stress in the gut, which may manifest as indigestion, nausea, gas, bloating, or feel like they have butterflies in their stomach.
• Hops (Humulus lupulus): Hops is a central nervous system relaxant and sedative nervine.  It isreally useful for people who are very anxious, very strung out, and can’t sleep.  Taking hops before bed can help them get good sleep. It is really useful for insomnia, especially when insomnia is caused by tension and anxiety (or even when tension is leading to headache, indigestion, restlessness, and lack of sleep).  A cousin of Cannabis, hops is also high in phytoestrogens. Use in combination with Valerian or Passionflower for added effect. Hops is best for short term use, like Valerian and to transition to a more gentle nervine longer term such as Lemon balm, passion flower, or catnip.
• Cannabis (Cannabis indica):  Indica strains of Cannabis function as a fantastic sedative nervine, with both textrahydrocannabinol (THC) and terpines producing a relaxing effect that can uplifts the mood, reducing pain and inflammation, and aid in sleep. Indica strains specifically work to relax the body; they have a high amount of the terpene myrcene, which is gives a sedative effect and decreases energy.  

Stimulating Nervines

Stimulating nerviness can help “perk up” the nervous system through direct stimulating or through promoting circulation.  In fact, our culture is obsessed with certain stimulating nervines like coffee or black tea!  These can be really good when you need to reduce your stress but also focus on getting something accomplished. 

• Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis): Rosemary is particularly effective in treating “nervous depression” by helping provide a pick-me-up to those in need. Its good for nervous tension of all kinds, and in dealing with immediate stress when you still need to “keep going” through the moment.
• Peppermint (Mentha piperita): When you need a pick me up that isn’t too intense, peppermint tea is an excellent choice.  Not only does it stimulate the nervous system in a gentle way, it is an antispasmodic and carminative (helping soothe digestion). Spearmint to a lesser extent has the same medicinal functions.
• Holy Basil aka Tulsi (O. sanctum, O. gratissimum):  Holy Basil is a fantastic herb in the mint family that is used for a wide variety of purposes—it is initially stimulating (especially to the mind, where it opens up cerebral circulation) but then brings calm, solidity, and a sense of being grounded to get you through the long haul.  It helps with mental focus and allows us to better adapt to stress; it opens and balances us.  Holy basil is also in the “adaptogen” herb category that allow us to adapt to stress.  More on adaptogens in an upcoming article!

Choosing Nervine Herbs

            The list above is not exhaustive, but gives you a general sense of some of the more common nervine herbs and how they work on the body. To help choose the right herb for you, consider the following question: How does stress manifest in your body? Consider what happens to you when you are stressed. Some people shut down and stop talking, withdrawing and growing distant. Some people speed up and engage in frantic behavior. Others have physiological symptoms, like stress in their stomach or other GI issues, while others carry stress in their Musculo-skeletal system. The point here is that by identifying how stress manifests in your body, you can choose one or more herbs that will offer you the specific support you need.  

Holistic Approaches to Nervous System Support

            While the herbs above can certainly help us with nervous system support and de-stress, chronic stress and its impact on the body requires a holistic approach where we work to support our bodies from multiple angles.  Thus, we cannot rely on herbs alone but rather use herbs as one of several pillars of support. Most of us are already pretty good at knowing what causes us stress and what helps us relax, but we may have difficulty finding time for those things in our lives.  Here are some other things to consider when working to reduce the stress and move away from adrenal fatigue:

• Sleep.  Getting enough sleep is a foundational part of healing and stress management.  Good sleep not only reduces cortisol levels in our bodies, sleep helps us fight illness, regulate our moods, increases our ability to solve problem sand make better decisions, and allow us to be less emotionally reactive.  If sleep is a problem, consider some of our sedative nervines to support more restful sleep.
• Exercise.  Exercise of almost any kind can relieve stress, helping boost our endorphins, reducing our fight-or-flight response, enhance our moods, reduce anxiety and depression, and support our overall health.  You should work to find exercise that appeals to you!
• Diet. Eating regular, healthy meals that are nutrient dense (especially those high in B & C vitamins, magnesium, calcium, zinc, probiotics, and omega-3 fatty acids) can help reduce stress. Some great foods include oatmeal, fish, fruits, green leafy vegetables, and fermented foods can all help reduce our anxiety and stress.
• Reducing stressful situations and people.  Consider how to reduce stress in your daily life by examining the biggest sources of stress and finding ways of managing them,
• Caffeine. Avoid drinking excess beverages with caffeine (soft drinks, coffee, black tea) as too much caffeine can lead to insomnia, restlessness, nervousness and increased heart rate.
• Screentime. Our screens are often the source of much stress, and too much screentime can lead to sleep disruption, increased anxiety and depression, reduction of attention and focus, and even decreased cognition. In addition blue light directly effects our melatonin levels, which is a hormone that regulates our sleep cycles.
• Hobbies and relaxation.  Finding things that relax us and make us enjoy life, such as hobbies (creative arts, being in nature, music, cooking, etc.) can help us de-stress, heal from trauma, express ourselves, and provide a distraction from ongoing stress.
• Meditation and spiritual practices.  Meditation or other spiritual practices can help reduce stress and put us in a better frame of mind. A consistent meditation practice, even of only 5 minutes a day, can be extremely beneficial.  Many kinds of meditation exist, including movement meditation, visualization, mantras, guided, focused, or mindfulness.
• Belongingness and community.  Finding people who we can connect with, share, and explore similar interests allows us to feel less isolated and alone—such as those in herbalism classes!

As we review this list, probably many of these things are things that you know you should do more of, or you wish you had time for.  But remember that this list helps you to prioritize both our own health and our own self-care—recognizing that we deserve to take time for ourselves to de-stress and keep ourselves healthy, happy, and feeling fulfilled.  This allows us to be better in whatever work is ours in the world, whether that is raising our families, interacting with coworkers, doing work we feel is meaningful, or helping others.  In sum, we can use the herbs and lifestyle suggestions in this article together to support nervous systems and de-stress to live more healthy, full, and enjoyable lives.