6 Herbs For Creativity and How To Take Them
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6 Herbs For Creativity and How To Take Them
Sometimes we think of creative people as somehow special or unique. Artists, musicians, and writers are just a few of the individuals who are commonly thought of as “creative”.
However, creativity is inherent to all of us! And what’s more, having a creative outlet is essential to our wellbeing.
Research shows that creative activities offer measurable health benefits. These include reduced stress, lower levels of anxiety and depression, improved immune response, and enhanced cognitive function.
Whether you’re struggling to tap into your creative side for the first time or engaged in creative activities on a daily basis, you’ll find there are some amazing herbs for focus and creativity.
In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at six herbs that will enhance your mental clarity, creative thinking, concentration, and focus. We’ll examine how they work, what they can do, and how you can use them best to maximize your creative side.
Be sure to read all the way to the end, because except the best herbs for creativity, we’ll also share other useful tips to boost your creative side every day in simple ways.
How Herbs Can Boost Creativity
Herbs can boost creativity in a surprising number of ways:
- They reduce pain, helping you focus without distraction.
- They boost dopamine, making creative work more rewarding.
- They lift your mood, increasing your desire to create.
- They fight fatigue, so your mind and body stay energized.
- They lower stress, freeing you from the pressure of competing priorities.
- They enhance cognitive function, helping you access creative thinking more easily.
With these benefits, herbs can be a powerful ally for anyone looking to stay creative.
But today, we want to highlight a specific type of herb, called nootropic herbs.
What Are Nootropics and Their Role in Creativity?
Nootropic herbs are herbs “whose action improves human thinking, learning, and memory”[1].
While there are “smart drugs” and medicines that have nootropic properties, you’ll find there are a number of herbs that also provide similar effects. These plants (and their extracts) can not only stimulate brain function, but can protect against and speed up healing from central nervous system injury or deterioration.
They may make you smarter, accelerate thinking and cognition, increase dopamine production, enhance memory, and so much more.
The herbs for creativity and inspiration we’ll share with you below all have nootropic effects, making them a truly excellent addition to your daily creative life.
6 Top Herbs for Enhancing Creativity
Creativity isn’t limited to art; it shapes how we solve problems, express ourselves, and engage with other aspects of life. Certain herbs can sharpen mental clarity, lift mood, and create the right conditions for generating new ideas.
Below, we explore six top herbs that support a creative mindset and boost creativity from the inside out.
Rosemary: Boosting Brain Function and Memory
You are probably very familiar with rosemary already, as it is a common herb used in cooking. However, this powerful herb goes much further than adding flavor to your dishes—it is also very powerful for your brain!
Rosemary is a stimulant to the circulatory and nervous system. It will increase blood flow to your brain, which improves memory and concentration. It also has protective properties for your brain and may help prevent premature cognitive decline and diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Lavender: Reducing Stress for Creative Flow
There’s nothing quite as relaxing as smelling lavender, is there? Well, those relaxing and uplifting feelings are directly tied to your creativity.
Research from the University of Japan has shown that inhaling lavender essential oil can reduce mental stress, increase alertness, and reduce depression and anxiety. All of these factors create the perfect mental environment for your creativity to thrive.
One of the ways that this is accomplished is by a reaction in the Pineal gland in the brain. Lavender stimulates the release of melatonin, which signals to the rest of your body that it’s time to relax and that you’re safe. Without these worries, your creativity begins to overflow!
Ashwagandha: Enhancing Focus and Reducing Anxiety
Ashwaghandha is one of the most heavily studied adaptogens there is. It is most known for its ability to reduce stress, but it has many other health benefits as well.
Researchers reported that it blocked the stress pathway in the brains of rats by regulating chemical signaling in the nervous system. In human studies, the herb showed a 69% reduction in anxiety and insomnia, compared to only 11% in the placebo group.
Ashwaghandha can help your focus and concentration, both of which are incredibly important when you’re working on a creative project.
Ginkgo Biloba: Improving Cognitive Flexibility
Gingko biloba is one of the most powerful and most commonly recommended of the nootropic herbs. It has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years, and modern research continues to find more and more ways it can benefit your entire body.
For your brain and creativity, gingko can increase blood flow, ensuring your brain gets more oxygen and nutrients and functions more effectively. It can also enhance memory and creative thinking.
Some research suggests that it may help to reduce distraction among those with ADHD, helping them to focus on what they’re doing. It’s a memory-booster that can sharpen your attention and facilitate creative thinking.
Gingko can increase the activity of crucial neurotransmitter pathways in your brain, increasing the amount of dopamine and noradrenaline your brain produces. This can lead to greater alertness and improved cognitive function.
Finally, ginkgo can protect your brain’s flexibility and neuroplasticity, and provide neuroprotective effects that curb the degeneration that is a side effect of biological aging. It’s no exaggeration to say it can be a game-changer for your brain!
Bacopa Monnieri: Supporting Mental Clarity
Bacopi Monnieri can both calm your brain and enhance cognition and mental clarity.
The herb’s pharmacological actions come from the triterpenoid saponins it contains, which help to protect your brain from inflammation, pathogens, and toxins. It can also combat anxiety, regulate and stabilize your mood, and enhance verbal learning and memory recall.
Research suggests that it can increase your creativity by breaking down cognitive barriers (inflexibility of thinking) and creating a more open, flexible approach to problem-solving and creation.
Holy Basil: Balancing Stress and Enhancing Mood
Holy Basil can be a powerful stress-reducer, calming anxiety and helping your mind to relax. And as every creator can attest, it takes a relaxed mind to really dive into writing, painting, music, or anything even remotely creative.
Holy basil can also regulate GABA, the neurotransmitter that facilitates relaxation and sleep. It can lower cortisol levels to curb stress, enhance attention and memory, and support healthy, effective brain function.
How to Use These Creativity-Boosting Herbs for Maximum Effect
Of the nootropic herbs we listed above, many can be easily incorporated into your regular meals.
You can use fresh or dried rosemary and holy basil (though fresh has higher antioxidant properties) to spice up your dishes, and in so doing, improve your cognitive function and enhance creativity. Or you can use bacopa monieri leaves to make a raw salad or blend it into a pesto-like sauce.
However, for all the nootropic herbs, there are other means of adding them into your daily life—including herbal teas and infusions, essential oils, and supplements.
Herbal Teas and Infusions
Herbal teas are an amazing solution for easy consumption of all these nootropic herbs.
Lavender tea, rosemary tea, and holy basil tea are among the most common and popular nootropic teas. They’re tasty, easily brewed, and can be found in a wide range of health food stores.
Ashwagandha tea can sometimes be mixed with spices like cinnamon and cloves to make a nootropic chai tea, or with vitamin-rich passionflower or relaxing chamomile.
Among practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, gingko biloba tea is a highly recommended means of consuming this potent nootropic.
Essential Oils for Aromatherapy
Research has shown that the smell of certain herbs—particularly rosemary and lavender—can provide relaxing, mood-boosting, and cognition-enhancing benefits.
Holy basil, lavender, and rosemary are the nootropics most likely to be turned into essential oils. Adding them into a diffuser can be a wonderful way to improve your creativity as you settle into drawing, painting, woodcarving, pottery, or any other hobbies.
Supplements and Tinctures
All of the nootropic herbs we listed above can be found in various supplement forms, including capsules, powders, and tinctures.
These often have a bitter taste and are less pleasant to consume than teas or whole herbs, but they offer more concentrated doses. They can also be a practical option for nootropic herbs that are harder to find in their natural form.
However you take these nootropics, make certain to check with your healthcare provider first. Their benefits are scientifically proven, but there may be side effects you need to be warned about.
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Other Tips for Boosting Creativity Naturally
The herbs we shared above can enhance your creativity, but why stop there? Why not find as many ways as you can to be the creative person you know you want to be?
Here are a few simple ways you can naturally boost your creativity:
- Find a creative outlet you love. Don’t lock yourself into a particular creative pursuit because you think you should like it. Try your hand at a wide range of creative endeavors until you find the one that you genuinely enjoy. Then spend at least two hours per week engaged in that activity, actively practicing it or learning what you can about it.
- Practice mindfulness. Creativity doesn’t only happen during the times you allot for it. Be prepared to be creative anytime, anywhere—carry around a sketch book, a notepad, a carving knife, or whatever other things your creative passion requires. When you feel the urge to be creative, listen to that urge. Mindfulness can help you to develop your creative side because you train your brain that when it comes up with an idea, it will be rewarded by giving it time to develop and explore it through your chosen creative outlet.
- Walk more. Walking engages your body but leaves your mind free to roam. At least once a week, walk out in nature without music, a podcast, an audiobook, or anyone to talk to. Just let your feet move and your mind wander. You’ll be surprised by what you come up with during those moments when you leave space for creativity.
- Seek inspiration. If you want to write, read more. If you want to paint, surround yourself with beautiful art. If you want to be a musician, listen to music that inspires and challenges you. The more inspired you are, the more motivation you will feel to pursue your creative side.
- Meditate. Meditation can make space for creativity and productivity because it quite literally clears your mind. It eliminates stressful and anxious thoughts, pushes aside worries over deadlines and problems, and leaves your mind free to drift toward creative ideas and inspirations.
- Collaborate. Working with someone else to explore your mutual creative sides can unlock some fascinating things within you. You’ll get outside perspectives, another skillset you might not have possessed, and a whole new way of looking at problems. You’d be amazed by what two minds can come up with!
- Don’t judge, just create. Something that stops many people from continuing to create is self-criticism and judgement. We’re all our own worst critics and judge whatever we write, draw, paint, carve, or play most harshly. Practice shutting off that judgemental voice, or just working through it and despite it. That voice will never really go away; you just need to practice ignoring it! With practice, you’ll get better at expressing yourself with far less fear of what others will think.
If you want to unleash your creative side, this is how you do it.
Conclusion: Embracing Herbs to Unlock Your Creative Potential
Everyone has some spark of creativity in them—be it writing, art, music, sculpting, pottery, or something else—they just don’t know it yet.
For those who are fortunate enough to recognize their creative desires, daily practice is the most powerful tool to help you become the creative person you want to be. With the herbs we shared above, you can drastically enhance that daily practice.
These potent nootropics calm the mind, reduce stress, sharpen focus, and improve cognitive flexibility. They also ease anxiety and support overall brain function. Together, these effects create the ideal mental state for unlocking your full creative potential.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does green tea boost creativity?
Green tea does boost creativity! It contains L-theanine, a powerful antioxidant that can improve cognitive function, increase feelings of relaxation, and create a state of alertness. Drinking green tea will help your mind feel sharper but also reduce your anxiety and stress—creating the ideal conditions for creative exploration.
What herb calms your mind?
For those with over-active minds, lemon balm, chamomile, valerian root, and lavender can all be powerful calming herbs. Lavender and lemon balm aromatherapy and chamomile tea both work to soothe your mind and reduce anxiety. Valerian root is often used as a sleep aid, but it can help you relax and shut your brain down more easily in the evening and at night.
What supplements are good for stress and anxiety?
A number of supplements can provide stress-reducing and anxiolytic effects, including Vitamin D (which you can also get from sunlight), L-theanine (from green tea), B vitamins (from whole grains, nuts, and seeds), chamomile, and magnesium.
Resources
Dendrite extension by methanol extract of Ashwagandha (roots of Withania somnifera) in SK-N-SH cells
Reduction of mental stress with lavender odorant
Nootropics as Cognitive Enhancers: Types, Dosage and Side Effects of Smart Drugs
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