Why Your Racing Mind Won't Let You Sleep — and the 1,800-Year-Old Herbal Formula For Satisfying Rest

Ask yourself: Do I wake up feeling well-rested?

As a licensed acupuncturist and board-certified herbalist, I pose this question to my patients during every intake. Your response to this prompt reveals the tenor of your slumber.

I'm also a mother to a bubbly three year old girl, so I often reflect (or lament) on my own sleep quality as well. My personal answer can vary greatly depending on the day!

Signs Your Nervous System May Be Dysregulated

If your mind races at bedtime, your body could be struggling to maintain homeostasis of the autonomic nervous system. To cope, you may feel the urge to "unwind" by watching continuous videos on social media.

"Doomscrolling can indicate that your sympathetic nervous system, the 'fight-or-flight' phase, is dominant when it should be dormant."

Maybe your usual sleep aid (whether a supplement or prescription) helps you fall asleep expeditiously but renders you groggy the next day. Perhaps you wake up multiple times a night. One of my patients awoke at 4:00am every morning; no number of calming meditations could get her back to sleep.

Duration isn't the only factor. You might get a solid eight hours — yet vivid dreams leave you feeling like you acted out an action movie by the time your alarm sounds.

A Major Reason You Can't Wind Down

When your autonomic nervous system is locked in a state of heightened alertness, you cannot truly rest. Our brains keep producing excitatory signals even when the lights are off. The parasympathetic branch of the nervous system, our "rest-and-digest" state, cannot counterbalance the sympathetic branch. Your body wants to rest, but your mind hasn't gotten the memo.

This is where GABA comes in.

Think of it as a brake pedal. When GABA levels are healthy, your brain can downshift from "alert mode" to "rest mode" naturally. As the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in your central nervous system, GABA serves a significant role in anxiety and stress regulation, circadian rhythm and sleep regulation, memory enhancement, and mood.^[6]

But here's the problem: chronic stress depletes GABA. It keeps the body in "fight-or-flight" mode.

Restorative sleep can only begin when the stress response is gently turned down.

When GABA activity is low, your brain has fewer resources to make the shift to rest. Research published in Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment found that low levels of GABA (or impaired GABA functioning) is associated with perpetuating acute and chronic stress, anxiety disorders, and sleep disturbances such as insomnia.^[1]

What Traditional Chinese Medicine Understood Centuries Ago

Long before modern neuroscience identified the GABAergic system, ancient Chinese physicians were treating sleeplessness at its root.

Rather than knock you out, the TCM approach is nuanced. It's elegant. Synergistic herbs are blended together to calm the spirit, smooth the flow of Qi, and nourish the systems that anchor restful sleep. Side effects are typically nil.

Now, centuries of herbal wisdom align remarkably well with modern research. Recent pharmacological research has confirmed what herbalists have empirically tested for centuries. The major action mechanism shared by most sedative herbs is to act through the neurotransmitter GABA or via stimulation of the GABA_A receptor.^[3] This is the framework through which Western medicine has scientifically proven as central to sleep regulation.

How Doomscrolling Immediately Alters the Brain

When you're glued to your phone at night, that behavior triggers a neurological cascade:

Why Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is More Similar to Western Medicine Than You Think

I'm thrilled to partner with a brand that honors the principles of Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), while centering contemporary health standards. NOOCI's Relax + Sleep blend is a harmonious formulation that bridges ancient wisdom and modern science.

The term allopathic medicine is nowadays synonymous with conventional Western medicine. However, the word allopathy is rooted in Ancient Greek.

The prefix állos means "other" or "different". The suffix páthos means "suffering" or "disease". In a true allopathic medical model, the intervention is different or opposite from the disease. TCM treatment theory primarily operates this way.

Besides the early Chinese practicing inoculation using smallpox scabs (an example of "like cures like"), TCM is largely allopathic.

Case in point: TCM would treat an itchy, red, hot-looking rash from poison ivy with natural anti-histamine herbs that are also cooling in nature (to oppose heat signs). In contrast, homeopathy is based on the principle of "like cures like", using small or diluted dosages.

Conceptually, Western biomedicine and traditional Chinese medicine have more in common with each other than with homeopathy.

An Ancient Herbal Formula — With A Modern Twist

As a practitioner, I love the Relax + Sleep blend because it follows the allopathic model to address a particular pattern of disrupted sleep.

TCM practitioners specialize in identifying health patterns. We do not treat "insomnia" as a single disorder. Instead, we examine the details of a person's sleep. We inquire about the minutiae. How many times do you wake up during the night? Do you fall asleep too late or wake up too early?

These distinctions help us establish differential diagnosis and determine the appropriate treatment.

According to traditional Chinese medicine, insomnia which is caused by a racing mind can indicate a "disturbed Shen". Shen is defined as our spirit or consciousness, residing in the metaphorical Heart. Think of it as being manifested in the light in your eyes.

Our eyes change when we are joyful, tired, or sad. Negative or pent-up emotions unsettle the shen. Over time, this burdened energy can stagnate in the mind and body, creating an emotional traffic jam. It's bumper to bumper, tempers are rising, and nothing is flowing.

The result? You lie awake, thoughts spinning, wound tight as a corkscrew.

The Relax + Sleep blend is inspired by a 1,800 year-old classical herbal formula originating around 200 AD.

The Inspiration: Licorice, Wheat, and Jujube Decoction (Gan Mai Da Zao Tang)

Several of the herbs used in classical TCM sleep formulas are now being studied through the lens of Western pharmacology. The results are compelling: in a typical Chinese herbal medicine prescription, a complex integration of two or more herbs are combined to achieve additive or synergistic effects^[4] — which is why these formulas often outperform single-ingredient supplements.

The original Gan-Mai-Da-Zao-Tang herbal formula, authored by renowned ancient Chinese physician Zhang Zhongjing (c. 152–219 AD), contains three simple ingredients:

Is NOOCI Relax + Sleep Right For You?

As a practitioner and herbalist, I support my patients with tools as part of their holistic treatment plan. There is no one magic pill.

NOOCI's Relax + Sleep formula is a modernized TCM formulation that could support you in getting the deep night's sleep your body has been craving. It's another powerful tool in your toolbox.

In addition to incorporating herbal interventions, the patient and I develop a comprehensive sleep hygiene ritual together. This may include adjusting home ambient lighting to promote natural melatonin production, optimizing nasal breathing during sleep, and fortifying nutritional and lifestyle factors. I also refer patients to consult with their family doctor or specialists such as cardiologists, dentists, gynecologists, and more to rule out more serious underlying health concerns.

I suggest NOOCI Relax + Sleep to my patients who:

If that sounds like you, this might be the shift your nighttime routine has been waiting for. Plus, if you're curious about TCM but don't know where to start — NOOCI is a gentle entry point into learning about classical Chinese herbs.

The Ritual That Heals Bedtime

Here's what makes NOOCI Relax + Sleep more intentional than popping another pill before bed.

A Secret Weapon: Unlocking Success Through Sleep

Eileen Gu, the world's most decorated female Olympic freestyle skier, famously proclaims she gets 10+ hours of sleep every night.

Even if you're not after a gold medal, inadequate sleep affects more than physical performance. You're risking your cognition and mood. Translation = your career, family, and relationships can unravel with chronic inadequate sleep.

A 2024 randomized controlled trial published in the Sleep Health journal proved a staggering finding:

"A reduction of as little as 1.5 hrs of sleep per night is enough to significantly alter working memory and recall skills."

This six week study assessed 65 participants (age 35.9 ± 4.9 years, 89% women, 52% non-White race/ethnicity), who regularly slept 7-9 hours per night.^[7]

The List Sorting Working Memory Task, a National Institute of Health (NIH) assessment, was used to measure participants' cognitive performance at baseline and post-sleep intervention. The study found that after six weeks of insufficient sleep, participants failed to meet the levels expected with practice. Naturally, lower working memory scores associated with sleep deprivation is somewhat expected.

Yet what is truly striking is that participants exceeded practice effects on the List Sorting Working Memory task after meeting adequate sleep goals for six weeks straight. This implies a positive, cumulative effect with continuously satisfying sleep. These study participants didn't just meet their practice efforts, they scored beyond them.

Which raises the hypothesis: can adequate sleep, which has been proven to improve mood, physical health, and cognition, enable people to reach their fullest potential in life?

If Relax + Sleep feels right for you, I challenge you to incorporate it into your bedtime routine. Take notice of the effects.

Start small: do your eyes look brighter in the morning when you look into the mirror? Are you snapping less at your children?

Reflect on subtle shifts. Do you feel more focused at work? Are you experiencing a creative surge? Over time, these changes can have an exponential effect that profoundly rejuvenates your relationships, career, finances, and spiritual evolution.