Hé Huãn Pí, a Chinese Herb for Holiday Stress

As the holidays come upon us, so too can additional stress. Find out how Hé Huãn Pí can help counter-act stress so the holidays can truly be “happy, joyful and merry”.

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Holiday stress can come in many forms and it can induce behavioral, physiological, cognitive, and neural changes, potentially altering homeostasis and promoting vulnerability to illness.⁽¹⁾ Stress is often associated with psychiatric disorders including depression, anxiety, and panic as well as neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. ⁽²⁾

What is  Hé Huãn Pí?

‘Huãn’ in Chinese translates as happy, joyful, and merry.  Hé Huãn Pí, Albizzia bark, is a Chinese herb that comes from the mimosa tree and is popularly known in English as the ‘collective happiness bark’. It’s native to Asia and gets harvested in the summer and autumn months, cut into slices for medicinal use. Its properties are sweet and neutral. It is taken as a tonic to help calm the mind and relieve emotional constraints.  It can also be used to make tea or soup.

Hé Huãn Pí is considered a safe herb with no adverse effects. The typical dosage ranges from 6 – 15 grams. It’s most commonly used for relieving:

• depression
• anxiety
• stress
• irritability
• moodiness
• anger
• a short temper
• restlessness
• memory loss
• insomnia.

Hé Huãn Pí can also invigorate the blood, alleviate pain and reduce swelling from trauma or abscesses like carbuncles and acne.

Animal studies reproducing anxiety conditions in maze and open field studies, using extracts of one of Albizzia’s main active ingredients, SAG, showed a significant effect over control not taking the extract. ⁽³⁾⁽⁴⁾ Anxiety behavior decreased in the group taking the extract, suggesting the potential for Albizzia as an alternative to traditional anxiety treatment.

How Hé Huãn Pí works in TCM

Hé Huãn Pí is associated with the Heart and Liver meridians. In TCM, the meridians correlate with all of the organs in the body, in a multitude of functions.  One of the unique functions of the Heart is the nature of the Shen, which corresponds to the Mind  but ‘resides’ in our Heart. The Shen indicates the many complex mental actions including our consciousness, mental and emotional activity, thinking, memory and sleep. A strong Heart, for example, indicates an emotionally balanced life, healthy mental activity, clear consciousness, good memory, quality sleep, and sharp thinking.  While in a weak Heart, the mind will lack vitality and there may be mental-emotional problems such as depression, sadness, anxiety, poor memory, and insomnia. The state of the Heart and Mind also demonstrate a person’s ability to build meaningful relationships and influence how we relate to others.

While the Shen associated with the Mind and Heart, the Hun pertains to the Liver and is responsible for sleep, plans, projects, and our life goals. ⁽⁵⁾  In addition, the Liver has a function of ensuring the smooth flow of Qi, which has a significant impact on our emotional state.  In Chinese medicine, ‘the smooth flow of qi’ translates as shu xie which literally means, ‘to flow’. Think of your blood circulation, it is constantly flowing.   Qi works much like that, circulating and distributing throughout our body, both internally and externally like the blood can. Because the Liver is so strongly associated with our emotional health, any interruption in the smooth circulation of Qi will manifest as emotional frustration, irritability, repressed anger, and depression.  In women, these symptoms may present as premenstrual syndrome, tender breasts, irritability, depression and mood swings.

The smooth flowing mental-emotional balance is essential between the Heart and Liver and why Hé Huãn Pí is the happiness herb of choice.

Our online store and clinic have Hé Huãn Pí in powdered extract and traditional formulations from trusted practitioner brands.

 

 

Always seek the advice of your physician with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition and use caution during pregnancy. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us through phone, email, or live chat.

References

1.  doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1998.tb09546.x. [PubMed] [CrossRef]
2. Liu, J., Lv, Y., Shi, J., Ma, X., Chen, Y., Zheng, Z., . . . Guo, J. (2017). Anti-Anxiety Effect of (−)-Syringaresnol-4-O-β-d-apiofuranosyl-(1→2)-β-d-glucopyranoside from Albizzia julibrissin Durazz (Leguminosae). Molecules, 22(8), 1331. doi:10.3390/molecules22081331

McEwen B.S. Stress, adaptation, and disease. Allostasis and allostatic load. Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 1998;840:33–44

3. Luo, Y., Xu, Y., Cao, W., Zhong, X., Duan, J., Wang, X., . . . Li, C. (2015). Insulin-like growth factor 2 mitigates depressive behavior in a rat model of chronic stress. Neuropharmacology, 89, 318-324. doi:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2014.10.011
4. Liu, J., Lv, Y., Shi, J., Ma, X., Chen, Y., Zheng, Z., . . . Guo, J. (2017). Anti-Anxiety Effect of (−)-Syringaresnol-4-O-β-d-apiofuranosyl-(1→2)-β-d-glucopyranoside from Albizzia julibrissin Durazz (Leguminosae). Molecules, 22(8), 1331. doi:10.3390/molecules22081331
5. Maciocia, G. (2015). The Functions of the Internal Organs. In The Foundations of Chinese medicine Third ed., p. 112). Elsevier.