Resource: Herbal supplements?
Here is an interesting product…
The Upstate Dream Institute offers herbal an supplement “Dream Boost” designed as “an all natural herbal sleep and dream enhancer”. Please note: I have not tried this product, nor do I endorse it. However, I am interested in hearing about the effects of anyone who might have tried using it, or other similar products…
Aside from the intensity of dreams, is there reason to believe that that *content* of the dreams and lucid dreams would be fundamentally different? What has been learned that would not have been otherwise? What about side effects and other health concerns?
Perhaps a larger, more fundamental question is: Do products such as these actually defeat the purpose of the quest for self-knowledge if wisdom is really obtained in the ‘journey’ rather than the ‘destination’? Should we worry about being the “Barry Bonds of Dreaming”???
I’m very interested in hearing others’ opinions on these matters (sometimes I do have a rather philosophical bent)…
Posted in Dream enhancer, Dream Boost, Philosophy, Herbal Supplement, Resource, Bonds |
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December 21st, 2007 at 9:35 am
I took a look at the website for the product and I looked over the main ingredients. Here is a breakdown of the “active ingredients” and what they are known to do:
Wild Lettuce Extract - known opiate
Melatonin - sleep aid
Calea Zacatechichi - hallucinogen
Mugwort Extract - soothes stomach, toxic long-term
Passionflower Extract - sedative & sleep aid
Green Tea Extract - unsure of why it is in the formula, has caffeine (could possibly stop free radical damage?)
5-HTP - sleep agent and mood enhancer
DMAE - repairs damaged cell membranes especially in the brain
Vinpocetine - improves memory, alterness, focus, and clarity
Personally, I think this stuff sounds really frightening - multiple hallucinogens, things to stop brain damage (!), and a ton of sedatives, all mixed with a touch of caffeine from great tea extract. I would imagine that just taking wild lettuce extract or calea zacatechichi would be alone would be risky. However, combining all that stuff is just too scary for me.
I don’t think you would have to worry about being the Barry Bonds of dreaming if you didn’t even wake up in the morning…
December 21st, 2007 at 9:44 am
Hmm… well, it sounds like this would be the stuff that would make your skull gr0w from size 7 1/8 to 7 3/4, not the strange cocktail that Mr. Bonds has been on… Of course, Bonds also had his feet grow from size 10 1/2 to size 13, so I’m sure that concoction is even more mysterious.