natural remedies Archives

In Health & Wellness

Always Sleepy But Can’t Sleep – What To Do?

13 Mins Read

It’s only afternoon and already you are yawning. Too tired to focus on the job at hand at the moment. Somehow you get through the day’s work with the help of coffee or tea. It is evening, you dread making dinner, have a headache and just want to go to sleep as soon as possible.

Unfortunately though, as soon as its time to hit the bed, your mind starts racing. You are lying awake thinking of everything under the sun. Somehow you feel less tired although you still have a niggling headache. You ask yourself to go to sleep but keep thinking, tossing and turning in bed. Even your new memory foam pillow or expensive mattress doesn’t seem to be doing anything for your sleep. Before you know it, it is already morning, time to get up and face another tiring day.

Sounds familiar? Well, if you are wondering what is wrong with you, just know that you are not the only one going through something like what I described above.

Always sleepy but can’t sleep has become quite a common occurrence amongst people of all ages. Some estimates and studies have concluded that almost 30% of the entire population suffer from chronic insomnia with a significant number of people suffering from severe sleep deprivation.

While you are not alone experiencing severe sleep deprivation and insomnia, you should know that in the long-run this condition can be quite dangerous to your health. You need to start working on getting quality sleep if you want to remain healthy, have a strong immune system and maintain optimum cognitive abilities.

So What Should You Do?

Before we get into what you can possibly do to increase the duration as well as quality of your sleep, lets discuss a few things that you should not do under any circumstances.

Don’t Expect Miracles

Insomnia is something that is developed over a number of years. You may not feel that way but it is something that is due to lifestyle choices you have made since you were a teenager. Maybe for some it developed at a later stage in life but definitely its something that slowly creeps up on you over time and before you know it, its too late.

It is therefore that to reverse the whole sleep disorder process, it takes a lot of time as well. Obviously it should not take several years but it will take time and you should not expect miracles from the first night itself.

Don’t Lose Patience

This is related to the above point and it is the most important point, hence the need to reiterate again. Your quality of sleep will not improve overnight and most people just lose patience. Please do not let that happen to you. Keep working on your sleep routine, habits and lifestyle choices to ensure over time you do fall asleep quickly and are able to maintain deep sleep for a number of hours.

Don’t Rely on Medicines or Supplements

Now I realize for some of you, medication and supplements are required but try to avoid them as much as possible.

Build and shape your mind as well as body to sleep naturally. Medication usually tries to take over your brain process and your body loses the ability to do things naturally. It gets used to the medicines and is always relying on them for calming the mind.

This can be dangerous in the long run and you have to work on increasing your body’s natural ability to calm itself down before sleeping.

Don’t Do Silly Things

Please don’t drink, consume food with sugar, binge watch shows or movies in the night and expect to go to sleep immediately. Very few people are gifted with the ability to go to sleep no matter what.

If you do such silly things, absolutely nothing that you can do will make you go to sleep especially if you already suffer from insomnia.

What To Do To Improve Your Quality of Sleep?

Now that we have covered a few things that you should not be doing, let us discuss what you can do to have a good night sleep.

Note that a good night sleep is made up of two factors.

1) Ability to fall asleep quickly.

2) Ability to have longer durations of deep sleep.

Both the factors are important for your overall sleep quality and health. However, even if you can achieve longer periods of going into deep sleep, it will be quite beneficial for your overall wellbeing.

Calm Your Body and Control Your Mind

Ultimately, to be able to sleep properly through the night, you need to be able to calm your body and control your mind.

Obviously this is much tougher than one can imagine. Calming your body is still possible but controlling your mind is near impossible. In fact you should know that at the moment, most of the human population cannot control their mind. Our minds are running in an uncontrolled manner with constant chatter and often repeating the same type of thoughts again and again.

For those with insomnia, this uncontrolled constant mind chatter is a dangerous activity. Even if your body is extremely tired, you have a headache and you desperately want to sleep, because your mind is racing at a million miles per hour, it becomes impossible to fall asleep. Even if you do manage some sleep, it is often not a deep sleep and some mind activity is still playing in the background.

So whatever we try to do to sleep, it needs to be to calm both your body and mind. You need just enough control for a limited period of time to genuinely fall asleep.

Breathing exercises while lying on the bed

The most important thing you can do to control your mind is do perform simple breathing exercises while lying on the bed. There are two very simple exercises that you should do every night and every time you feel your mind is racing to take back temporary control.

1) Equal diaphragm breathing: In this exercise, you simply have to ensure you breathe in and out in equal amount of time. So if you inhale for four seconds, you need to exhale in four seconds as well.

I usually just count to four. So when breathing in I inhale to a count of four, hold for one second and then exhale to a count of four.

Apart from equal timing in inhaling and exhaling, you also need to ensure that you are breathing using your diaphragm. Your diaphragm is located between your chest and stomach. Don’t worry if you cannot locate it. All you need to ensure is that when breathing in, your stomach rises as well. It is not just your chest that is rising.

If you have ever seen a baby breathing, you will notice its stomach rising every time the baby inhales. That is the correct, natural way of breathing which most of us lose out over time.

So to recap, use equal counts to breathe in and out, make sure your stomach rises while inhaling, hold your breath for one second before exhaling.

2) The 4-7-8 breathing technique: I had come across this technique long back on the internet and after practicing a while, I feel it genuinely works in calming you down.

This technique is super easy.

All you have to do is first inhale for 4 seconds. Next hold your breath for 7 seconds and then slowly exhale for 8 seconds. Just count in your mind if you do not know the exact second.

Keep doing this and you will experience a sense of calm in your body.

Note that both the above breathing exercises should be done for at least five minutes. Also don’t worry if you feel its not helping or you cannot do it more than say a minute before your mind starts thinking of something else. This happens to everyone. That is the reason I had mentioned earlier you need patience and know that things will not happen overnight. You just need to keep at it and not give up.

Also the first breathing exercise given above can be used anytime, even during meditation. Just start the exercise whenever you feel you need it or just need to stop the chatter in your mind.

Aromatherapy

This is another important thing you can do to get a good night sleep. Once again, there are two methods of Aromatherapy that you can use. However, you may need to experiment a bit with which smell or aroma is best suited for you. Most people react to different aromas in a variety of ways.

For example, I had read on the internet that lavender oil has properties that calm your nerves and help in falling asleep. However, even after using drops of lavender oil on my pillow or through diffusers for over a month, nothing really happened. In the end, I tried green tea oil, sandal wood oil and even eucalyptus oil to start getting a sense of what works best for me.

1) Couple of drops each side of your pillow: The first thing you can try is get a small bottle of a pure and organic oil of your choice. It can be any of the aromas I mentioned above or whatever smells nice to you. As long as it is pure oil and not filled with additives, artificial fragrances etc., you are fine.

Just use a dropper and put two small drops of the oil on each side of your pillow. When lying on bed, this aroma will slowly engulf you giving you a nice sense of calm.

Note do not overdo on the drops. Strong smell will end up causing you to feel fresh and the opposite of feeling sleepy.

2) Use a diffuser: Instead of dropping the oil directly on your pillow, you can mix 5 drops of the oil with 10 drops of water in a diffuser. Note your diffuser may need more water so use accordingly.

Let the aroma of the diffuser spread through your bedroom and then you can switch it off before going to sleep. Ensure you have no burning candles etc. before you hit the bed.

Aromatherapy can really help calm both your body and mind as long as you have found the right fragrance for you. Also once again, do not use artificial fragrances of any kind. They will hurt your chances of going to sleep even more.

Inhaling Eucalyptus Oil Vapor

If you have even the slightest blocked nose, it can be difficult to perform the breathing exercises or get the full benefits of aromatherapy. It is therefore recommended to inhale the vapor of eucalyptus oil to clear your nose before sleeping.

What you need to do is boil some water, put it in a bowl, put not more than three drops of pure eucalyptus oil in it. Cover yourself with a towel and breath in the warm vapor for as long as you can.

It will note only help in clearing your nose but also in calming you down before sleeping.

Be Practical

I realize this is not much of a technical tip but still wanted to put it out there. Often we do not sleep as we are constantly thinking of all the problems and issues of our lives.

Here we just need to be a bit more practical. You need to tell yourself, what is the point of worrying or constantly replaying the issues in our minds. It is not like as if the problems will go away in the morning.

So just be practical and stop thinking of the issues. I know this is easier said than done but at least try. Using the breathing exercises to make your mind focus on your breath instead of any other issues you are facing.

Rule out medical issues

While most people have acquired insomnia over time and it is a result of poor lifestyle choices, for some, it is due to an underlying health issue within themselves.

It is therefore recommended to get medical tests done or take the opinion of a doctor to rule out any genuine medical health issues.

Honestly, just knowing you are overall healthy will give you peace of mind and will calm your body down before sleeping.

Declutter your room

The environment you sleep in, makes a huge difference in your overall quality of sleep. Hence it is always recommended to declutter and clean your room for a good night sleep.

A well-organized room is not just pleasing to the eye, it helps your body feel comfortable and therefore helps your mind relax a bit more.

Wakeup and Sleep Routine

I probably should have covered this point first as it is as important as the breathing techniques given above.

Please maintain a proper routine and time for going to sleep and waking up. I know that the time you hit the bed is not the same as going to sleep but you should go to bed at the same time every night as much as possible.

Also wake up at the same time even if you are tired and want to sleep a bit more. Sometimes, it is good to get so tired that when you go to bed in the night, you cant help but fall asleep. Of course whenever you are that tired, make sure you are not doing any activity such as driving that can potentially be harmful to both yourself and others.

Maintaining a proper wakeup and sleep routine will eventually help your body clock to know when it is time to sleep and you will doze off as soon as you go to bed.

Light Yoga Stretches

If possible, performing just five minute basic yoga stretches before going to bed is beneficial for relieving muscle stress and relaxing the body.

Remember not to do anything strenuous. Stretches that help your legs, back and shoulders really help with calming you down. The breathing exercises given above will also be much more effective if your body has already started to relax after the yoga movements.

Final Thoughts

Falling asleep is all about your ability to relax, calm your body and control your mind. The breathing exercises and aromatherapy are the most important things you can do to fall asleep. In fact, anything you can think of that calms you down will help you to sleep.

However, I am repeating again, for those with severe sleep disorders, it takes a lot of time and patience to be able to again start sleeping on time and getting into deep sleep.

Please do not give up and continue for as long as it takes to redevelop good sleeping habits.

Also, as much as possible, avoid external help in sleeping. I am not just talking about medication here. There are certain herbal teas that calm you down and help sleeping. However, the goal is to be able to sleep on your own and ensure your body or mind is not relying on anything you ingest to sleep. If you manage to do that, then you will see a huge improvement in not just your sleeping pattern but also in your cognitive and overall wellbeing.

In Hair Care

Understanding Grey Hair: How To Prevent And Reduce It Using Natural Remedies

5 Mins Read

Noticing even just one grey hair can be a real nightmare, especially if it appears in your early twenties.

But is there really a reason to get that much frustration about having grey hair?

People who are 50 and above are already more or less comfortable with the idea of having grey hair. However, even at that age, knowing that it’s normal, people seek treatments to deal with and reduce the quantity of grey hair they have.

Hair greying can be seen as a unique kind of phenomenon, and the reason why that transformation happens engages a lot of people.

This article will focus on how the process happens, why hair has a tendency to turn grey or white, what are some of the natural measures that can be taken to prevent and cut down premature hair greying.

How Exactly Hair Turns Grey

Hair turning grey is a sign of aging and is an entirely natural process. In fact, at the age of 50, half of the human population has at least some of their hair turned grey up to 50 percent.

Most people find themselves contemplating at the reasons for their hair turning grey and feel it is a sign of something gone wrong with their body internally.

The reality is that the hair follicle contains a natural hair “dyer” that affects our hair color when it comes out from the scalp.

The particular hair pigment called melanin is responsible for the color of our hair, and when the amount of melanin decreases, the hair starts to lighten its color, turning grey or white.

So, what we need to know is that, as for now, researchers are still studying this process.

They succeeded in finding out how it happens, but the question of whether or not there is a way to slow it down is still unanswered.

Factors Affecting Grey Hair And What Can Be Done To Prevent It

Multiple affecting factors are known to be reasons for hair greying.

Genetics, ethnicity, stress, or lifestyle influence the amount of grey hair a person has.

Out of all of this, genetics is the particular factor that affects the hair greying process the most.

However, other factors like a non-healthy diet, smoking, or stress may also play a huge role in getting grey hair faster.

Even though for this case, the stress factor hasn’t yet been proven scientifically; however, it’s a known fact that smoking can cause early depigmentation in the hair.

If you have no close relatives whose hair turned grey early, but you start to notice a considerable amount of grey hair on your scalp at the age of 20 to 30, stress and your lifestyle habits are the most probable reasons for that.

Having all this in mind, remember that premature greying connected to genetics and ethnicity cannot be influenced in any way, but there are still other external factors, knowledge of which would help you get that unwanted hair color after your forties, and not twenties.

Natural Remedies Known To Be Preventing Grey Hair

Talking of natural remedies, turns out that usage of different oils for hair might actually have a positive outcome.

Though treatments with various natural and essential oils will not prevent grey hair from coming out, moisturizing hair follicles with masks containing oils may change grey hair’s look, making it less noticeable.

Olive oil and coconut oil are both known to be helpful oils in the process of fighting against grey hair.

Another well-acknowledge natural remedy is treatment with juice of Indian Gooseberry and almond oil. Juice of Indian Gooseberry, also known as Amla, contains anti-microbial features and overall is a great source of Vitamin C. It’s considered an excellent coolant for the hair, which in its place helps to reduce the appearance of grey hair.

Besides applying hair oils directly to the hair, some natural remedies are there to do the job internally, meaning you should include those in your diet, instead of applying directly to the hair scalp.

For instance, consumption of ginger, blackstrap molasses, and black sesame seeds enriches the hair follicle, helping to postpone the greying process.

Getting a sufficient amount of vitamins and minerals is another approach people struggling with grey hair should look into.

Vitamins are known to keep the hair healthy and shiny, and more importantly, in this case, they are a way that might delay the appearance of lightened hair.

Moreover, minerals, like copper, zinc, iron, magnesium, and selenium, are all-natural ingredients that are amazing for hair growth and also for repair.

Final Thoughts

Notably, scientists were successful in finding out the exact process of hair transformation from its original color to grey or white.

What is still under research is the finding of medicine or some kind of remedy, which could actually be proven to be working towards this specific issue.

Any nature-originated treatment known nowadays is just a suggestion by professionals, which they declare based on opinions from various research results.

Most of the time, that research shows specific relationships among factors, such as stress or other poor lifestyle habits versus the tendency of hair to go grey, leading them to make conclusions.

After all, there is no need to get stressed when you notice your hair changing its color to a lighter shade, especially if you’re above 40.

In case of premature hair greying, it might cause anxiety and frustration at first, but try your best to embrace your little greyish hair, and don’t forget that sometimes it’s normal, especially if you’ve family history on greying at younger ages.

And in case you lack motivation, search out and see how many superstars and celebrities are absolutely fine with grey hair, and maybe you’ll change your unfavorable attitude towards this natural aging phenomenon called hair greying.

In Hair Care

Herbs for Hair Growth

6 Mins Read

If you want your hair longer, there are several options. You could go to a medical doctor and go home with a prescription medication such as Minoxidil, and then deal with side effects as they arise. Minoxidil is a vasodilator that allows more oxygen, blood and nutrients to get to the hair follicle.

You could improve your diet on your own and hope that this change makes a difference. You could be more proactive about your nutrition and see a nutritionist who can give you a plan to correct any vitamin and mineral deficiencies. You could also take herbs for hair growth.

When you consider all three of these methods, the one solution that has stood the test of time is using herbs for hair growth. The interesting part is that science hasn’t kept up with research on herbs over the years. Science has lagged behind and now medical doctors tell you there’s not enough research on herbs for hair growth to recommend them. You will have to determine whether or not there is enough research or not yourself.

How Herbs for Hair Growth Work in the Body

Herbs for hair growth are quite interesting because they work via one of a few different mechanisms. They may:

stimulate hair follicles to grow
have anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-parasitical activity that eliminates the ‘bug’
on the scalp causing hair loss
decrease high levels of testosterone that increases hair loss
decrease effects of stress which deplete necessary nutrients to keep hair growing
restore female hormone levels
provide active vitamins and minerals that are necessary for hair growth
provide medicinal constituents not necessarily known for hair maintenance,
synthesis and hair growth

Red Korean Ginseng: One of the Herbs for Hair Growth

Before you give up on herbs for hair growth, you have to read about what happened when scientists compared the effects of corticosteroids on hair growth and density against effects from Korean red ginseng.

If you love using natural remedies, this study will be one more piece of evidence that what you believe in is correct. The study followed people with alopecia, a type of hair loss, who were in their 30s for 12 weeks. Fifty people were divided into two groups of 25 individuals. One group was given corticosteroids as treatment since alopecia has an autoimmune component to it. The other group was given cortiocosteroids plus ginseng. Both groups received treatment for 12 weeks. The goal was to see who had the best hair growth.

Here’s a table of the results:

Types of Treatment	#Patients	#Hairs		Hair Density
		Before	After	Before	After
Corticosteroids + Ginseng	24	44 cm2	101 cm2	0.062	0.085
Corticosteroid	24	40 cm2	91 cm2	0.058	0.078

Korean red ginseng is known for its ability to prevent hair loss and make hair grow. And according to this study, it did – although researchers said that statistically, there wasn’t a difference in the results of the two groups.

The researchers concluded that Korean red ginseng can improve hair regrowth in those with autoimmune causes of hair loss. They proposed that the reasons why it worked so well was because the herb contains medicinal components called ginsenosides that are known to be anti-inflammatory and anti-allergies.

Fo-Ti: Affects Hair Regrowth Via Interfering with Testosterone

While you’re using Red Korean ginseng for hair growth, you may also want to check out the herb Fo-ti. As many women in menopause produce less estrogen, their testosterone levels may increase. High levels of testosterone are sometimes associated with hair loss. It’s one of the hormonal disruptions that can be related to hair loss.

Fo-ti has been known by herbalists for centuries to turn restore the original color of gray hair over time, and recently, has been found to have estrogen activity. Thus for those women who don’t want to take hormone replacement therapy, the herb fo-ti can provide three benefits all at one time:

Eliminate the gray hairs
Provide more estrogen
Reduce the testosterone levels in the body

Fo-ti provides about 1/300th of the activity of 17-beta-estradiol, according to researchers at the University of California in San Diego. (Source: Jour Clin Endocrin Metab 2003,88(9):4077-79.)

Eclipta alba: Another of the Herbs for Hair Growth

An Indian herb called Eclipta alba Hassk is known in that country as one of the herbs for hair growth. Research on rats confirmed the legends about this herb. When a water extract of the herb was incorporated into an oil cream base and applied topically, the researchers might have been surprised about the results. Compared to Minoxidil, Eclipta alba worked twice as fast! The herb initiated hair growth quickly. Even the time for completed hair growth was significantly less. This herb for hair growth grew 46% more hair than Minoxidil. (Source: Arch Dermatol Res 2008 Aug; 300(7):357-64.)

Chinese Herb Extract Dabao Acts as a Hair Restorer

Dabao is used in China to grow hair in those with alopecia androgenetica. In a randomized, double-blind study with 396 volunteers, Dabao grew 24 more hairs in a 5 cm squared area.

That’s quite a bit, considering the placebo group only had 109 hairs; it comes out to about 22% more hairs. When the volunteers had to rate their results, 42% of the Dabao group were happy with their results, compared to 37% in the placebo group.

(Source: J Clin Epidemiol 1991;44(4-5):439-47.)

Chinese Ginseng Works Too

Panax ginseng is not the same herb as Korean red ginseng. They are two separate plants. Besides Korean ginseng helping improve hair growth, Panax ginseng does so too. Radix panax ginseng is widely used in China for alopecia (hair loss).

In one study using a slightly different plant, Fructus panax ginseng was tested to see whether or not it also might grow hair in mice. It did. A topical application of the new herb lengthened the amount of time that the hairs stayed in their growth phase and enhanced growth of the dermal papilla cells compared to the placebo of Minoxidil.

(Source: J Ethnopharmacol 2011 Nov 18;138(2):340-4.)

Rosemary Extract: Another Herb for Hair Growth

A 6-inch branch of rosemary from your herb garden made into an extract may also be one of the herbs for hair growth you use.

In a Japanese study reported in the Phytotherapeutic Research journal, scientists tested a topical preparation of rosemary extract on mice that lost hair due to high levels of testosterone.

The rosemary extract promoted hair growth and the dosage of the extract determined how much testosterone 5-alpha-reductase was inhibited. An 200 mcg/ml rosemary extract inhibited testosterone enzyme by 82.4% while an500 mcg/ml rosemary extract inhibited testosterone enzymes by 94.6%. (Source: Phytother Res 2013 Feb;27(2):212-7.)

There are dozens of other herbs that have been used as herbs for hair growth over the centuries. These are only some of them!

In Hair Care

Top 10 Foods that Stimulate Your Hair Growth

6 Mins Read

Everyone wants a full head of thick, gorgeous hair, but it can be more difficult to come by than many people realize. For men, typical male pattern baldness can easily get in the way as there is a 4 in 7 chance of receiving the baldness gene. For women, female pattern baldness can afflict as many as 1/3 of women at some point in their lives, although this figure ratchets up to 2/3 among post-menopausal women. The psychological effects of hair loss (the formal medical term for it is alopecia) can be profound, often more so for women than men because of societal norms and expectations. In this article, I will present some important information about the science of hair loss and then give some nutritional strategies that will help keep your hair looking its best.

The Science of Hair Loss

There are particular hormones called androgens that have a lot to do with hair growth. The one that seems to be most related to hair loss is called dihydrotestosterone, though it is mostly referred to by its acronym, DHT. This androgenic hormone is responsible for governing the three different hair growth phases (anagen, catagen, telogen), though how it actually works still remains something of a mystery. What happens, however, is a process called “follicular miniaturization” wherein the hair follicle begins to deteriorate, leading to greater lengths of time between shedding a hair and having a new one get started. As the follicle shrinks, the healthier-looking “terminal” hairs become thinner, shorter, less-pigmented “vellus” hairs that never mature into the better terminal hairs. The loss of both thickness and volume of hair continues until the follicle becomes completely inactive and produces no more hair of any type whatsoever.

What Can Help Maintain Hair?

As noted in a previous article, the best thing you can do for your hair is maintain optimal overall health by paying attention to hydration (drinking 8 glasses of water each day, 8 ounces each), getting plenty of aerobic and strength exercise each week, and maintaining a well-balanced, nutritional diet.

Foods that Stimulate Hair Growth

The remainder of this article is going to drill down into information specifically about what you can do with your diet to keep your hair healthy.

Iron

For women, Harvard Medical School notes the following related to iron intake: “In some women, iron deficiency could be a cause of hair loss. Your clinician may test your iron level, particularly if you’re a vegetarian, have a history of anemia, or have heavy menstrual bleeding. Iron supplements are recommended if a woman’s iron level is less than 70 nanograms per milliliter. According to the Mayo Clinic, foods that are rich in iron include the following:

Red meat
Pork
Poultry
Seafood
Beans
Dark green leafy vegetables, such as spinach
Dried fruit, such as raisins and apricots
Iron-fortified cereals, breads and pastas
Peas

It is important to note that the human body absorbs iron best from meat than any other source. However, there are plenty of health and other reasons to minimize meat in your diet, so if you don’t want to get iron from meat, you’ll have to pay even more attention to getting it from the other sources listed. In fact, although the iron in meat helps with hair, the fats found in meat can actually promote hair loss, so be forewarned. You may also choose to take an iron supplement. Also note that you can increase the amount of iron you absorb from your diet by making sure you get plenty of vitamin C, which is known to boost iron absorption. Citrus fruits are a great source of vitamin C. Getting enough iron is important for both men and women, but it tends to be more problematic among women.

Biotin

Biotin is known by a couple of other names, including vitamin H and coenzyme R. It’s a water-soluble vitamin in the B complex. It plays a key role in the metabolism of fats and amino acids, both of which are important to healthy hair. Getting enough biotin will also help your nails stay healthy and strong. A normal diet typically results in the body’s intestinal bacteria producing plenty of biotin, usually more than the body even needs, so it’s relatively rare to be deficient in biotin. For this reason, it’s a good idea to check with your physician before trying to significantly boost your intake of biotin. However, foods that are rich in biotin include egg yolks, liver and yeast. Again, however, especially with eggs and meat, there are many reasons to not go overboard with those. Even better sources without those concerns include peanuts, almonds and sweet potatoes. Other great sources include Swiss chard, carrots, salmon, tomatoes and walnuts.

Protein

Protein is absolutely essential to healthy hair. However, getting plenty of protein can also have unintended negative impacts on your health depending on the sources from which you get it. Again, there are all kinds of reasons to limit your intake of red meat even though it is rich in protein. Alternative sources of protein include fish (especially salmon), nuts of all kinds and legumes (beans). The great thing about salmon is that although it is high in fat, it is the heart-healthy kind of fat (the omega-3 fatty acids).

Zinc

Zinc is another nutrient that plays a key role in the body being able to build the proteins necessary for health hair, but you can also get too much of it. A great source of zinc is seafood, but especially oysters. Beef and lamb are also rich in zinc, but again there are many reasons to not eat much of either of those. The next best sources of zinc include toasted wheat germ, spinach, pumpkin and squash seeds, nuts (especially cashews) and beans (especially cooked mung beans).

Top 10 Foods that Stimulate Hair Growth

Based on what foods have been mentioned above in getting optimal amounts of nutrients that play a key role in maintaining healthy hair, you can see some definite patterns emerging. These coincide quite nicely with what WebMD lists as the top 10 foods for healthy hair:

Salmon – Rich in protein, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D.
Walnuts – Rich in protein, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin E.
Oysters – Rich in both zinc and protein.
Sweet potatoes – Rich in beta carotene that is turned into vitamin A.
Eggs – Rich in zinc, selenium, sulfur and iron.
Spinach – Rich in iron, beta carotene, folate and vitamin C.
Lentils – Rich in protein, iron, zinc and biotin.
Greek yogurt – Rich in protein, vitamin B5 and vitamin D.
Blueberries – Rich in vitamin C and antioxidants.
Poultry – Rich in protein, zinc, iron and B vitamins.

This represents your go-to list of foods that stimulate hair growth. Focusing on making sure these 10 items are featured prominently in your diet will do wonders for you hair.

In Hair Growth

Ten Home Remedies for Hair Growth

5 Mins Read

Many people suffer from hair loss each year. They need hair growth to regain their sense of social confidence. Since many cases of hair loss are not considered that important by medical doctors, you may have to resort to natural remedies for the problem.

Home remedies for hair growth have been around for years. Some work while others don’t. The primary thing to remember about them is that if the remedy provides the missing link to why you have hair loss, it will work. If not, it won’t and you’ll have to try again.

Here are 10 home remedies for hair growth that you can start testing out yourself:

1. Rosemary oil

For this home remedy, you’ll need about 12 drops rosemary oil and 12 drops jojoba oil. Mix together in small bowl and apply with fingertips to scalp. Then cover your hair with a cap and leave it on for a few hours. Then shampoo it out.

2. Nettles

Nettles is one of the herbs that is high in silica. Although silica isn’t recognized as a nutrient essential for humans or animals, it really is. We suffer from all sorts of connective tissue diseases when we don’t have enough silica in our body. Nettles are anti-inflammatory which can interfere with inflammatory compounds causing a hair loss problem. Take the capsules daily – two capsules twice daily or make a tea with one teaspoon dried nettles and then apply onto scalp after shampooing.

3. Silica

By feeding the connective tissue, this one of the home remedies for hair growth works for about 90% of those with hair loss; that’s what I’ve found. It encourages growth of the hair. You’ll be able to see much faster growth in about 2-4 weeks, as you notice your haircut is long overdue. If you purchase silica capsules at a health food store, take 6-10 capsules daily. If you take diatomaceous earth powder, get the loose powder from feed stores marked USDA Food Grade and take one heaping tablespoon twice daily.

4. The herb ginkgo biloba

Ginkgo sends blood circulation to the head and scalp while making you feel much more intellectually alive. One to two cups of tea daily is all you need; drink it.

5. The herb saw palmetto

Interestingly, this herb works by decreasing the amount of testosterone in the scalp, which has been linked to hair loss. Some health experts report it’s better than Rogaine. Take two capsules twice daily.

6. The herb Pygeum

This herb is similar in its action to that of saw palmetto. Take the same dose as in saw palmetto.

7. Biotin and folic acid

Taking 3-5 mg of each of these may stop hair loss if your hair loss is due to a biotin or folic acid deficiency. But don’t forget to add a regular B complex to your dietary supplements so you don’t create any imbalances in nutrients.

8. Tea tree oil

It’s possible you may have picked up a mite or parasite or fungus which is causing your hair loss. Stop it with a tea tree oil scalp massage applied once daily for three or more days. Shampoo after letting it soak into the scalp for a few hours.

9. Fo-Ti herb

This herb has been known to turn back gray hair coloring while it stops high levels of testosterone from damaging your crop of head hair. Amazing herb! Take two capsules twice daily.

10. Diatomaceous Earth

This one is my favorite. Diatomaceous earth is the tiny bodies of diatoms from sea creatures that are high in the element silica. What’s really important about this is that silica is one of the most essential elements yet it’s rarely included in multivitamins and minerals. Smart hair, skin and nails supplement companies have included small amounts in their supplements for years and have created silica supplements for hair in capsule form that is outrageously expensive and meant to gouge the pockets of those who want to look beautiful.

But now you can be smarter than these supplement companies by going right to the source and getting diatomaceous earth from the feed stores. This is fed to animals, used on the garden and in the pool and will truly make your hair grow wild. I’ve seen this one work wonders for hair growth – it even helps increase the numbers of hairs on the head and the length will grow exceptionally long for you despite your genetics. Here’s why: everyone is deficient in this element as its levels in the soil have dwindled drastically. Deficiencies affect all the connective tissues in the body: the hair, skin, nails, lungs, colon, muscles, bones, tendons and ligaments. Not only will your hair grow with this one but your nails will, too.

The recommended amount per day is two heaping tablespoons daily. Simply mix it into juice, milk, protein shake or yogurt. The flavor isn’t bad at all.

Discover which of these home remedies for hair growth works best for you! Then let me know!