Medicinal Herbs and ADHD

LATEST PODCAST EPISODE — LISTEN NOW
November 5, 2021 • 36:47 min

About this Episode

Pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood in general can be both incredibly magical and overwhelmingly exhausting. Pregnancy and the postpartum period can invoke a whole range of mental and physiological challenges associated with balancing newborn care (and potentially other children as well) with work, social lives, and personal time. In this podcast episode, naturopathic clinician Angela Hywood joins our host Sara Le Brun-Blashka, MS, to talk about post-natal depletion, including the herbs and nutrients to prevent and address the symptoms all-too familiar to women with children.

Nutritionally devoid foods, a host of environmental pollutants, and the hectic pace of our modern lifestyle often finds women in a less-than-optimal state if not before pregnancy, then often during and after childbirth. Angela describes “post-natal depletion” as the “persistent feeling of exhaustion stemming from juggling the demands of motherhood and other aspects of life as a modern woman” (02:58). Sound familiar? Post-natal depletion is essentially characterized by the deterioration of both physical and mental health.

Women with post-natal depletion may experience any number of symptoms, including:

  • Fatigue and exhaustion
  • Anxiety
  • General feelings of being overwhelmed
  • Guilt and loss of self-esteem
  • Poor immune function
  • Low libido (07:39)

Why does post-natal depletion occur (04:50)? Angela describes how, unfortunately, as a society, we’re not great at supporting young parents. Additionally, women may be becoming pregnant already in a state of nutritional depletion, potentially not getting enough sleep or exercising enough either (11:07).

Angela recommends a three-step approach for women in the throes of post-natal depletion:

  1. Replete and rebuild macronutrients and micronutrients
  2. Targeted botanical therapies
  3. Mindfulness (14:26)

Angela has a lot of recommendations for preventing and addressing post-natal depletion, mostly consisting of self-care, nutrition, sleep, exercise, stress management, and herbs. Angela’s favorite herbs for post-natal depletion include:

  • Adrenal adaptogens like shatavari and Ashwagandha
  • Nervines like passionflower
  • Echinacea for immune support

Other important topics discussed include:

  • Prevalence of post-natal depletion
  • Markers of post-natal depletion (25:36)
  • Other health conditions associated with post-natal depletion (26:32)

Scientifically driven. Education focused. Healing Inspired.

Subscribe to Insights

Receive clinically driven nutrition insights you can trust.

Animated Newsletter WM

Join Our Community to Read Further

This is a premium article created for our Healthcare Practitioner readers. Create a free account to continue reading and gain full access.

Dismiss

signup-logo

WholisticMatters offers health care practitioners and nutrition enthusiasts alike the opportunity to create a free profile for access to site features like bookmarking. Enjoying an article you are reading or a video you are watching? Save it to come back to later! Sign up in seconds for continuous access to all that WholisticMatters has to offer.

WholisticMatters also offers health care practitioners who create a free user profile access to exclusive content and tools to utilize in clinical practice. Articles, tools, and downloads created specifically for practitioners to use in their office for better patient education in clinical nutrition and health. Sign up today with your email and credentials so we can confirm you as a health care practitioner, and you are free to peruse the resources unique to you and your colleagues in health.

close
mobile-signup

Create Your Account:

show-pass Please use 8 or more characters with a mix of letters, numbers & symbols
signup-logo
close

Create a free account to use our great bookmarking tool

Once your account is created, you'll be able to save and organize what matters to you!

Already have an Account? Login Here


Click 'Sign Up' above to accept Wholistic Matters's Terms of Service & Privacy Policy.
close

Are you a Healthcare Professional? Sign Up For Free Access!

We'll verify your credentials and get you access to our great interactive tools.

Already have an Account? Login Here


Click 'Sign Up' above to accept Wholistic Matters's Terms of Service & Privacy Policy.