This Ancient Health Food Will Improve Your Sleep Quality

 reishiReishi (Ganoderma lucidum) mushroom is generally known as “the queen of mushrooms” due to its staggering health benefits and body-and-mind balancing properties. Reishi has over 4000 years of history of use, and it is one of the most researched natural medicines in the world, along with tobacco, cannabis and ginseng.
Reishi is a strong adaptogen which means that it helps the body in adapting to challenging conditions. The triterpenes in reishi fruiting bodies support and balance the endocrine system and directs people to relax when they are under too much stress. Due to the optimally working hormonal system, your body can relax and recover during the night like it is supposed to. Thus, taking reishi increases the amount and enhances the quality of deep, slow-wave sleep. For most people the effect is noticeable after the first time they take a good dose of reishi!
On top of being the strongest natural stress antidote, reishi also has components that work as antihistamine in the body and help prevent allergic reactions. Reishi has strong anti-inflammatory effects and it can prevent and treat candida and other fungal diseases that are unfortunately common nowadays.

Tastes like medicine

Make sure to get a proper, strong extraction made from the actual fruiting bodies of this wonder mushroom. You can easily find the best products by tasting. Because of its high concentration of medicinal compounds, especially the fat soluble triterpenes, good quality reishi is really bitter. You know the saying: “Tastes like medicine.” 😉
The traditional way has always been to boil the sliced mushrooms and drink the resulting brew. The hard cell walls of mushrooms are impossible for our digestive system to break down, but boiling water makes them readily bioavailable and doesn’t affect negatively the potency. One can find commercially already made extracts that have been spray-dried back into powder form and are easy to use. Four Sigma Foods, a company founded by a group of young Finnish guys, is specializing on such products, and here is a great example how to use one of their tastiest products:

Peppermint “night-cap”

1 drop of peppermint essential oil
1 cup of cashew milk or almond milk
Directions: Heat the nutmylk of your choice in a pan. Mix the packet of Reishi hot chocolate powder and hot liquid in a mug, add the drop of peppermint oil and stir. Indulge and enjoy the best sleep in long time!

Sheleana Aiyana

Sheleana is passionate about getting back to nature through real food and empowering women to walk the feminine path of self-care and deep self-awareness. She's a birth doula in Vancouver, BC She's an avid reader, intuitive culinary goddess and cat lady in the making.