Like many other psychoactive compounds, though, kava root should not be consumed with alcohol, prescription drugs, or any other substance which stresses the liver. For instance, water extracts glutathione (a powerful antioxidant that our bodies manufacture) from kava, whereas alcohol does not, and this could have ramifications for toxicity. Water-based kava preparations extract different proportions of active compounds than alcohol-based kava preparations. Preparation may also matter traditionally, kava is prepared with water, whereas modern processing often uses alcohol. The tendency of some supplement makers to use the leaves and sticks (which contain toxins) to increase yield may lead to hepatotoxicity, but the root itself appears reasonably safe. There appears to be some concern toward hepatotoxicity. A Cochrane review concluded that kava extract is effective against anxiety, while another review found that kava has no significant negative effects on cognition. It’s supposed to reduce anxiety, induce calmness, cause sedation without mental impairment, and generally chill a person out. Most Pacific cultures used kava, including those of Hawaii, Polynesia, Tonga, Fiji, and Papua New Guinea (to name a few). Nowadays, the active kavalactones are also extracted and pressed into capsules. Traditionally, its roots were chewed fresh (with the resultant liquid often spit into communal bowls), pounded to release the moisture, or sun-dried, ground, and steeped in water to make an intoxicating, relaxing mild sedative. Kava is a crop grown in the South Pacific. Now, let’s take a look at some of these so-called stress relief tea ingredients: Kava Kava I go with what works, regardless of some kind of ideology, using our human evolutionary heritage as a starting point and utilizing the best of 21st century technology to get real results with the least amount of pain, suffering and sacrifice as possible. Ultimately, it’s about feeling better and improving our health, no matter the means. Humans don’t do very well under chronic stress, so mitigating supraphysiological stress by supraphysiological means (whether through meditation or chamomile or taking a plane to Hawaii) makes sense and is unabashedly Primal. The way I see it is if we’re trying to emulate the physiological, psychological, and spiritual state of human being established as “normal” by natural selection, we may have to take a few extra steps to get there. Smart use of select herbs and roots with anxiolytic, calming, soothing, relaxing properties can go a long way toward restoring the Primal balance between active engagement with the hectic world and passive downtime. Life is hard and often unpleasant, and we don’t get a lot of downtime these days. Not all of us spend blissed out lives at the beach, or on a remote mountaintop communing with nature, or floating through life on a cloud of bodhisattva farts. Modern life presents novel stressor after novel stressor after novel stressor. ![]() What works? What actually helps you ease troubled thoughts? What’s actually worth your money and the time it takes to brew a cup of hot water?įor those who balk at the idea of supplementing an otherwise solid Primal eating plan, don’t be so hasty in your dismissal. But supplement manufacturers say a lot of things, not all of them true. Many of us live in a state of constant stress punctuated by bouts of acute but transient ease of mind, when it should be the other way around (constant ease of mind punctuated by bouts of acute but transient stress), and these teas and their ingredients claim to help you correct the imbalance. These are the teas which purport to help you unwind from a rough day, relax in the midst of exterior (or interior) chaos, and chill out in a state of relatively peaceful bliss. ![]() ![]() A popular product class is the “sleepy time” tea.
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