..anyone else awake??

Hmmm... lettuce is lactuca satiava. Marijuana is cannabis sativa...

PS with or without lettuce, I have never (touch wood) suffered from insomnia.

My mother was expecting me in the first year of the war when my dad was 'digging for victory'. During her pregnancy she was hooked on lettuce sandwiches and sent him out to the garden to pick a lettuce for her every evening. Perhaps this is why I am also very fond of lettuce sandwiches - preferably on good wholemeal bread. Lunchtime, I think!

..if it's opium based it's a pity that I don't find lettuce addictive like chocolate .

...'It is said that he effect of eating too much lettuce is soporific'..Beatrix Potter, The Tale of the Flopsy Bunnies.

I've copied and pasted it instead. I remember this from a BBC documentary a couple of years ago.

"Eat a lettuce sandwich before bedtime helps you sleep easier!
This is a really weird bit of advice that someone told me about this weekend. It was apparently mentioned on a BBC documentary a couple of years ago as a way to help cure insomnia.

The advice on a programme about how to get to sleep faster and stay asleep suggested you eat a lettuce sandwich before bedtime.

So is there any science behind this or is it just an old wives tail?

We traced back and it appears that this is the basis of a very old English recipe for curing insomnia dating back to the eighteenth century.

So I asked Maureen Lumsden a nutritionalist friend of mine to explain why this should be?

It turns out that there is a lot of truth in this – but the sandwich needs to be made more specifically of the lettuce stem and it needs to be fresh. It’s the white latex from the plant’s stem — known as lettuce opium — that does the job.

Looking into it further Food expert and Author Anne McIntyre explains in her book Simple Home Remedies for Common Ailments that the substance in the plant’s stem “looks and works the same way as the opium poppy.”

So salad for supper tonight – At least it will be healthier than biscuits or a slice of toast!"

Oh dear it's disappeared. Hold on a minute.

Anyone tried this insomnia remedy?

Good Morning. I've discovered Boots Valeriam root extract - took a couple last night and…well, woke at 7.30am this morning feeling alive. Think I'll give them a whirl for a few nights (more than that and I find the affect starts wearing off). Anyone else found any herbal supplements that actually work at helping them get a good night's sleep?

On the contrary, Granny23 - it seems most gransnetters are sleeping soundly! Not too many of us on here. Well, it's nearly 7am where we are so I am getting up! Have a good day

I was surprised to see how many posts there were on this thread but then realised it has been on-going for more than just one night. I thought there had been a mass outbreak of insomnia!

Hi Paige - what time is it where you are? We should have been travelling to your side of the pond today but our flight has been rescheduled so we have to wait one more day.

I'm here usually at night.

Hi grannyactivist - what is keeping you awake? I go through phases of insomnia and it is usually because there is a lot on my mind. Have tried all sorts of remedies to no avail. Hope you manage to nod off again.

Still here Bellasnana? My nursing daughter suggests a milky drink and a small banana before bedtime may help. Wish I'd taken her advice.

Hello? Is there anyone else awake? This is getting beyond a joke now. Third night in a row that I have been up at this crazy hour.

I'm sure that somewhere I have a photograph of DGD up a tree in a princess outfit! Girls can have it both ways.

So did I!

Dd won't have pink for DGDs. You try to buy anything else!
Re gender stereotyping, dgd1 won't have dolls cuddly toys etc. adores trains, rockets, airplanes, helicopters, fire engines etc

Grubby pink, yes?

This thread has wandered a long way from the OP

Not too bothered by all this pink though. They all, regardless of gender, help down the allotment, climb the tower in the garden, attack the pirate ship also in the garden, walk the dogs, feed the chickens, bake, paint, sing, 'play' instruments, do jigsaws, play on the iPad, read books, paint, colour, use clay, make collages, jump on the furniture and beds, chase each other round the house, argue, fall our, make up, kiss, cuddle, play hide and seek, wear jeans, get wet, get muddy, jump in puddles........

PINK swords...........the mind boggles...........

The expensive one

I've tried suggesting GS3 to don a princess dress, but he was having none of it. Did manage to get GD2 into a Spider-Man outfit once.

The girls may be princesses but at least they're 'kick ass' princesses complete with pink swords and shields, they take no prisoners.