Sunday Health Hack No. 21 – Put some Reishi mushroom powder into your “Good Night” drink for the best recovery ever.
Today, it’s Mother’s Day. So, let’s honour the most important person in our life, dedicating this Sunday Hack to the Queen of Health.
After having introduced you to the health benefits of Chaga (in the morning) and Lion’s mane (in the afternoon) before, let me finish this little medicinal mushrooms series with Reishi, known as the Queen of Mushrooms, best taken in the evening before bed.
Reishi mushrooms (Ganoderma lucidum for us science geeks), fan-shaped and orange to reddish brown in colour, have been a foundational herb and important adaptogen in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) for thousands of years. Also labelled as the “Mushroom of Immortality”, Reishi was traditionally only reserved for the Emperor and royal family, elevating its status to that of a royalty herb.
Reishi mushroom is one of the most incredible adaptogens and medicinal mushrooms, which according to TCM, restores and balances your “Shen”.
“Shen” translates as one’s spirit or emotional balance. Traditionally, the benefits of Reishi are used to improve sleep, strengthens the heart, improve cognition and reduce stress and anxiety – all manifestations of a Shen imbalance.
Reishi restores the emotional balance, calms the mind, reduces stress and supports the nervous system and digestive health. As I have emphasized many times before, much of your “mood” has its roots in your gut.
Stress is a key suppressor of our immune system. Reishi mushroom is known as the ultimate anti-stress herb that helps support the nervous system, and lowers an overactive central nervous system.
And as a potent antioxidant, Reishi decreases inflammation and disrupts the production of inflammatory mediators, which also influence our mood (inflammation in the brain).
But its most important function is, being a potent adaptogen, that Reishi is also a powerful immune system modulator.
Think of it as “THE Commando Bridge” of your immune system. First it “optimizes” the “deployment” of your immune system’s tool-kit (T-killer-cells, antibodies, proteins etc.), sending the right tools to the right place in the right amount to the most urgent “trouble spots” in your body where they are currently needed most.
And next, it also down-regulates an overactive immune system, as is seen in autoimmune diseases, allergies and skin conditions such as eczema or psoriasis.
As we all know or at least might have heard of, our “recovery / repair system” is primarily full at work during our sleep.
Due to its “calming” effect, researchers have found that taking Reishi before bed increases the time of non-REM sleep and the quality of REM sleep.
So, first Reishi ensures that your sleep quality is optimal which is beneficial for your recovery processes. And then it also optimizes this ongoing “construction work” during your sleep.
So my Sunday Health Hack for today is – Make yourself a nice “Good Night” drink and add some Reishi powder extract to it.
For my “Good Night” drink I put the following ingredients into a large tea mug –
- 1 tbs organic cacao powder
- ½ tbs of turmeric powder
- a pinch of cinnamon
- 1 tbs of coconut oil
- 1 tbs of organic acacia honey (from my local beekeeper), highly antiseptic!
Then I add some Reishi powder to it, 500mg. The most convenient (and quality reassuring) way to do that is again to get some organic, quality Reishi mushroom extract in capsules. Open the capsule and put the extract powder to the mix.
Then I top it up with hot water (not boiling water, ~90 degrees Celsius).
This “Good Night” drink, which I enjoy while eg. reading a book before going to bed, provides you with many minerals, vitamins or healthy fats supporting your nightly recovery and repair system, and Reishi makes sure that they are put to their best use possible.
My trusted product source in Germany for (very) good quality Reishi mushroom extract is again Sunday Natural, and, again, I do not have any affiliation with them – https://bit.ly/3LVDlke
Queen & hearts, Yours Andreas
Sunday Quote
The strength of a kingdom (your life) comes from its King (your health). And the strength of a King comes from his Queen (of Health).
Sunday music
Well, let’s honour the Queen by her King, so that when the night has come, please stand by me 🙂