Here are a variety of tips for better sleep. Maybe some of you might find a few of them helpful 
4 Likes
Has anyone tried lettuce tea or Lactucarium?
1 Like
Ooh, I’ve never heard of either of those! Lettuce tea sounds intriguing - I wonder if it’s something @pamelaspence has heard of or tried?
2 Likes
Well you know, I just might have 
Wild lettuce is a very good calming and cooling remedy, Latin name Lactuca virosa and I happen to have it on my dispensary shelf.
The white latex like substance found in the stem is the key part- in fact it is thought to be so soporific that it was known as poor man’s opium!
Anyone as old as me will probably remember their mum cutting out the central rib of a lettuce leaf which contained a similar latex because it was too bitter to eat. Nowadays we’ve bred the bitter taste out of our lettuce and with it we’ve lost those sleep inducing chemicals.
So I would say that if you can safely id wild lettuce it’s worth a try but cultivars won’t cut it 
2 Likes
Thank you, That’s interesting @pamelaspence because the article says to steep Romaine lettuce leaves but if lactucarium has been bred out of commercial lettuce, that won’t work. Whoever wrote the article hadn’t done their research properly!
I know wild lettuce but I see that you can buy wild lettuce seeds (as well as tea and other products). I may grow some in the Community Garden Herb bed I have created, although someone not in the know will probably pull the weeds out! 
1 Like
Hmmm interesting… I wonder whether Romaine lettuce maybe still has enough of the bitters in it to work? I hadn’t heard that. Perhaps worth a try?
Yes, I have tried to grow wild lettuce but someone always pulls it up - I have given up!
2 Likes
I did a quick google. It seems that Romaine Lettuce does have some lactucarium in it but (like you said) rather little these days and unlikely to promote sleep. You might have to eat or soak a truckful of it! 
What's That White Liquid That Comes out of Lettuce When You Cut It?.
Still, there is an article that mentions the level of lactucarium / lactucin in Romaine lettuce as being higher than others and seems to have produced some sleepy mice ! 
I didn’t read it all though and they seem to have already been on pentobarbital
1 Like
Interesting- thanks Sue!
2 Likes
You learn something new everyday! @drmudlark @pamelaspence - thank you both for the research and insight! 
3 Likes