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

In the morning Ivan met with his father and gave him the firebird’s feather. The tsar was pleased that finally one of his three sons had succeeded if not in catching the firebird, at least in getting one of her feathers. He brought this feather into his royal chamber and instantly the entire palace glowed as though lighted by thousands of radiant candles.

From that time on, the firebird never again returned to the garden, but the tsar had become obsessed by his desire to have her in his palace. To make a long story short, I can tell you briefly that the tsar’s three sons had many adventures in their quest for the firebird. Tsarevich Ivan met a gray wolf which served him as a mighty stead and he fell madly in love with a beautiful princess named Elena. He eventually captured the firebird, put her in a golden cage, and set off with Princess Elena to his father’s palace. But the way to his homeland was a long journey, and the two lovers with the firebird, stopped to rest near the forest and fell asleep. As they slept, Ivan’s jealous brothers killed him, stole the firebird and his magic horse with the golden mane, kidnapped his beautiful bride, and arrived at the tsar’s palace as great heroes. But this would not be a fairy tale if it didn’t have a happy ending.

So here’s what happened next. Tsarevich Ivan lay dead for 30

days until his friend, the gray wolf, found him and sprinkled his body with the water of life. Tsarevich Ivan stood up in a twinkle of an eye.

“I have slept for a long time,” he said.

“Yes,” answered the wolf, “you would have slept forever if I had not brought you back to life.”

Then he told him how his brothers had slain him. In a fairy tale, truth and justice always prevail, so Ivan’s brothers could not believe their eyes when they saw Tsarevich Ivan alive. They lost their peace of mind and became sick with insomnia. They never could fall asleep at night anymore.

Meanwhile Tsarevich Ivan was blessed with a sound

and healthy sleep forevermore. He married the beautiful

Elena … and, of course, they lived happily ever after.

172 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there and worrying. It’s the worry that gets you, not the loss of sleep.

—Dale Carnegie (1855–1955), How to Win Friends and Influence People ƒ

Health is the first muse, and sleep is the condition to produce it.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882), American poet and essayist ƒ

A well-spent day brings happy sleep.

—Leonardo Da Vinci (1452–1519), Florentine artist and scientist ƒ

Sleep . . . peace of the soul, who puts test care to flight.

—Ovid (43 B.C.–A.D. 18), Latin poet

ƒ

There is a fullness of all things, even of sleep and of love.

—Homer (700 B.C.), Greek poet, author of The Iliad and The Odyssey Sleeping Beauty @ 173

174 ^ Mama’s Home Remedies

Chapter 9

When Your Head Is Swimming

Nature is not a competition. It doesn’t really matter, when you go out, if you don’t identify anything. What matters is the feeling heart.

—Richard Adams (b.1920), British writer

FACTS

How large is the problem of fatigue? According to a recent Department of Health and Human Services report entitled “Reasons for Visiting Physicians,”

a staggering 14 million Americans go to the doctor complaining of exhaustion. Add to that uncounted millions who seek medical advice for other reasons but also mention significant exhaustion. There are millions more who seek help but are nonetheless tired all the time. It becomes clear that fatigue is one of the major health problems in America. Many years ago in Alameda County, California, only 6 percent of the adult population qualified as energetic and healthy.30

“Generally speaking, the dictionary defines fatigue with equally incomplete substitutes such as tiredness, lassitude, exhaustion, ennui, burnout, and/or boredom. Some few larger lexicons go beyond this synonym chanting. When they do, fatigue and energy are somehow related. As energy goes down, fatigue goes up! According to the International Classification of Diseases, fatigue is now recognized as a sovereign syndrome with its own distinctive designation (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), its abbreviation (CFS), and its own number (780.7).”31

When Your Head Is Swimming @ 175

When we are overtired, we may experience headaches and

sleeplessness, but also giddiness, or so-called swimming head or dizziness. Dizziness is usually caused by an irregular distribution of blood to different parts of the brain. Dizziness may be associated with a variety of ailments including stress, high blood pressure, constipation, and high acidity in the stomach. It may be accompanied by nausea. If so, it’s important to cleanse the stomach.

r 1. A very good way to cleanse the stomach is with a chamomile enema. See page 70, R59., for instructions. Al ow the enema to aid in elimination of toxins and then lie down on a bed in a darkened room and close your eyes. Place an ice bag on your forehead and relax.

r2. If dizziness is a result of overwork, try the folowing mix: 1½

tablespoons each of hawthorn berries and hawthorn flowers, and three cups boiling water. Steep for two hours in a warm place. Filter. Drink three times daily 30 minutes before any meal or one hour after eating or whenever you feel dizzy.

r3. Mix one tablespoon hawthorn berries and one cup boiling water. Steep two hours in a warm spot, preferably a preheated warm oven. Filter and take one to two tablespoons three