I was driving home from a grocery run and this kid no more than 4 years old caught my eye at a stop sign. He was staring at me and as I looked over at him, he smiled and waved. I smiled and waived back and he was so happy he got someone to wave back at him. I assume it was some game he was playing to see who would wave. I gave him a little honk-honk and left.
I don't know what the fuck happened to me but I got really emotional. All I could picture was a kid that probably looks exactly like him somewhere in a bunker having God knows what done to him.
I have had a very hard time sleeping over the past 5 years just thinking about the horrors. It comes at me time to time.
This particular moment hit me like a fucking brick. I went silent after and my wife noticed it. Obviously, I didn't say anything to her about what I was really thinking but man, that kids face is tattooed into my brain now.
Hey, dietician who worked in the vitamin industry here. There is contention over many herbal medicines. Its possible there is a bit of a psychosomatic / placebo thing going on. Some definitely work, but im skeptical about many. Plants have many defensive compounds in them that don't jive with us so they don't get eaten.
What he said about melatonin is correct, but keep in mind the human body only makes .5mg a day naturally, so taking a typical 5mg dose seems like too much to me.
If seeking a sense of being calmer or sleeping better, I also recommend getting more magnesium and L theanine in your diet. Possibly even ashwagandha or iodine to help support your glands and hormones. The first two are fairly harmless, the last two you should do a lot of research first.
If you apply iodine topically, does it get absorbed or should you eat it?
If you're deficient you will absorb it through the skin. I eat it though. I also take it with an antioxidant because the body creates some free radicals when healing with iodine