Ashwaghanda powder, Valarian root powder, Lemon Balm Leaf powder, Passion Flower herb powder, Chamomile (Egyptian) powder.
I bought one pound of each. About $15 per pound from Monterey Bay Herb Company California Est 1997

I just now trying the first. Ashwaghanda powder 2 tablespoons mixed with 5 tablespoons of Columbian coffee. It's a little bitter and earthy but I added two sugar substitutes.

Mainly I was a natural sleep herb but Ashwaghanda seems to promise a wide variety of "benefits".

Thoughts?
1. Does anyone just mix with hot water? Steeping is tricky because it's powder but I'm sure the is a cloth bag I could purchase and the steel mesh balls would have the powder leak out.
2. Any recommendations for Lion's Mane mushrooms or others and brand?

TIA

You're taking this with 5 tablespoons of Columbian coffee and hoping to sleep?

Edit: maybe brewed coffee? Coffee keeps me awake so tat caught my attention.

Paul Stamets company Host Defense for lions mane. Also there's a company out of Oregon called essential oil wizardry that makes a super potent lions mane tincture. Dude that owns it is goofy, but they make some really awesome and very potent herbal tinctures.

I just wanted to see if I could notice any cognitive changes. I'll try them all alone at bedtime. The placebo effect can be strong so we'll see if anything is that noticeable that I think it's a true effect.

Hate to be that guy, but plenty of these "natural" and "herbal" things have been associated with livery injury, or other toxicity. These aren't regulated, and especially if you're taking from random companies that don't have good quality control measures in place, you can be getting inconsistent amounts. Most are probably safe. But just be cautious.

Thank you. I plan to bring the list to my physician soon. I have been taking Ambien for 2 decades every day and I'm trying to find alternatives. Benadryl use every night to augment Ambien definitely has drawbacks. I'm in the psych field and this one MD board certified psychiatrist listed the safest to worse psychotropics and several I've taken were near the top. I'm no longer a professor but want to hit the library to read the original articles. In this age of so much information it is a blessing and a curse.
I ordered pure ground powder hoping they would be legit and not full of fillers but even if "pure" your point about side effects is noted. Also, individuals of course can have individualized results and the elderly can be extremely sensitive to some substances.
10 years ago I was visiting my 81 year old father in intensive care and since he was sleeping and it was getting late I started to leave. Just then he woke up delirious not knowing he was in the hospital and tried to remove his catheter. I would distract him for about and hour until he fell asleep again and stayed asleep. Each time he went to hospitals they noted he was "allergic" / contraindicated to a certain sleeping pill.

You been diagnosed with anything that relates to sleep? That seems like a long time to need ambien. Do you have a consistent sleep time? Drink alcohol? Caffeine or other stimulant usage?

Hard to say what might help without knowing what other factors work. In general I find about anything loses effectiveness after awhile as your body adjusts. Magnesium helped me a little but falls into that category. I've also found caffeine to be odd in that it doesn't make me feel awake anymore but if I have it too late in the day (less than 4 hours before sleep) it does still mess with my sleep. Ashwaganda didn't do anything for me but as previous poster said it's unregulated so who knows what you get from one brand vs another.