Mama's Home Remedies: Discover Time-Tested Secrets of Good Health and the Pleasures of Natural Livin, Svetlana Konnikova [classic fiction .TXT] 📗

minutes. Drink one wine glass before bedtime.

Two ancient Russian remedies

r 16. Place a birch broom under your pilow. This plant wil induce sleep.

r 17. Place under your pilow a handful of hops. You’l have a sound sleep in a state of natural “intoxication.”

r 18. Drink ⅓ glass Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay, which act as natural sleeping remedies and stimulate sleep.

To combat headaches and sleeplessness, my Grandma used the remedies and recipes previously described and also an unusual, but proven environmental alteration, using black sheets. This method has offered excellent results even for those who have suffered for months with sleeplessness and nightmares. Before bedtime she would cover a window in her bedroom with black cotton fabric. When I asked her why, she said that the black fabric reminded her of the night sky and it helped her to get a quiet sleep. As a student at Moscow University, I observed the same ritual in the home of a famous Russian poet. She was widely recognized during the 1970s along with other celebrated poets in Russia, including Andrey Voznesensky and 160 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

Eugene Evtushenko. Her poems, rich with strong emotions and philosophies, entertained hundreds of readers.

During one period in her life, she nearly suffered a nervous breakdown due to sleep deprivation.

It was in summer when I, then a reporter, set out to interview her for an article for a local newspaper. I visited her in her country home, a dacha set in Peredelkino, a small village near Moscow nestled in a beautiful northern forest where some of the most renowned poets and writers in Russia wrote their most inspiring works. In fact, it was there that Boris Pasternak wrote his classic novel, Doctor Zhivago.

“Zdravstvuy! ” she said, bidding me hello as she opened the door. In a less enthusiastic tone she told me she was not feeling well, but to please come into her bedroom.

Once in the room she returned to her bed, and I, surprised by the room’s ominous appearance, asked her why her sheets, pillows, comforter, and even her nightgown were made of black silky satin.

“The color black soothes my mind and gives me unbelievable, amazing tranquility; rapt attention to my poems; and sound sleep,” she explained, “so I can completely relax from my everyday thoughts, problems and brainwash.”

We continued our conversation for a couple of hours and at the end I was not overexcited from having just interviewed a great talent in Russian poetry. Instead I began to feel sleepy. The black color around me had become dominant in my mind.

I later learned that experiments have shown that people who have tried many remedies for sleeplessness to no avail have found rest from the extensive use of the color black or navy in their bedrooms. Try this to get a sound sleep: r 19. Make your bed in thin black or navy fine satin fabric: sheets, pillowcase, comforter, and nightgown or pajamas. If you are real y adventurous, you can even paint your wal s black and add shimmering silver stars. r 20. Rub your temples with lavender oil before you go to sleep. r 21. Pour five drops of pure lavender oil into a cube of sugar. Let it melt in your mouth before bedtime.

Sleeping Beauty @ 161

r 22. Place ½ ounce celery stalk (Apium graveolens) in a glass jar. Add one quart of cold boiled water for eight hours, then filter. Take one teaspoon three times a day to help prolong your sleep. r 23. Crush two tablespoons dried red hawthorn berries and place in a glass jar. Add 1½ cups of boiling water. Steep for 30 minutes. Take the mixture three times daily 30 minutes before a meal. It is a helpful treatment for insomnia for those with heart disease. r 24. Place one tablespoon oats in a large jar. Add two cups of cold boiled or spring water and cover overnight. Next morning cook for five minutes. Drink it as a tea any time for a better sleep. r 25. Cook eight ounces oats and five cups cold boiled or spring water in an enamel pot until volume is reduced by half. Filter, add four teaspoons of honey, and cook for an additional 30 minutes. Drink two to three times daily. The tea is a good natural calmative/sedative. r 26. Place two tablespoons crushed turnip roots in an enamel pot. Add one cup water and cook 15 minutes. Drink ¼ cup four times daily or one glass before bedtime.

r 27. Wild lettuce usualy is referred to as the bitter cousin of common garden lettuce. It has been known for its mild sedative and painkil ing effects since Greek and Roman times. Place two teaspoons of crushed, dried leaves of wild lettuce in a mug and add one cup of boiling water. Steep for 10 minutes, filter and drink ½ cup before bed. It induces sound sleep, relieves pain and can ease nervousness and muscle spasms. Do not drive or operate machinery when taking this infusion.

r 28. Put two teaspoons honey and one teaspoon apple vinegar in a mug. Mix and take at bedtime. This usual y induces sleep within 30 minutes. If you are overtired and feel weak and you wake up in the middle of the night, repeat the same. Honey itself stimulates sleep. It becomes more effective in combination with apple cider. 162 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

Remedies treating insomnia of nervous origin,