These seven herbs — gotu kola, turmeric, ashwagandha, rosemary, ginger, astragalus, and ginseng — are the ones I’ve leaned on for decades to support the brain, sleep, immunity, and steady energy as the body ages.
The short version
- The seven herbs I reach for most often after forty years of clinical practice: gotu kola, turmeric, ashwagandha, rosemary, ginger, astragalus, and ginseng.
- Each one supports something that tends to slip as we age — memory, sleep, circulation, inflammation, or immune depth.
- Most of them can be used as food, tea, tincture, or a simple spoonful of herb-and-honey called an electuary.
- No herb replaces sleep, real food, and movement. The herbs work with a good life, not instead of one.
I am in my seventies, and I still work. I still teach. I still garden, write, and sleep well most nights. People ask me what I take — and the honest answer is that I take less than you’d think, but what I take, I’ve been taking for a long time.
Before I walk you through the seven, one reframe. I don’t really believe in *anti-*aging. Aging is not the enemy. What I believe in is graceful aging — aging with a clear mind, a steady body, and an open spirit. That’s the goal. Herbs are one part of that, and only one part. Diet, movement, sleep, good company, and a calm mind do most of the heavy lifting. Herbs help the body hold its ground while you do the rest.
Here are the seven I come back to, in no particular order.
Gotu kola sends oxygen to your brain and feeds your skin from the inside
Gotu kola (Centella asiatica) is the first herb I’d hand anyone who wants to keep their mind sharp as they age. It pushes oxygen, nutrients, and clean blood supply up into the brain, which supports memory, focus, and recall.
There’s a ceremony in Nepal where schoolchildren are given a sprig of gotu kola on the first day of spring to help them learn. That tells you everything about how long this plant has been trusted.
What most people don’t know is that gotu kola is also a food. I get mine fresh from Hawaii and eat it as salad with a little olive oil and vinegar. It’s also one of the few herbs I know that has been shown to support collagen — the protein that keeps skin soft, keeps elbows and heels from turning rough, and keeps everything inside you held together. That’s why I also make a gotu kola oil for massage.
How I use it:
- As food: fresh leaves in salad, an ounce or two a day when I can get it fresh.
- As tincture: a fresh-plant tincture in alcohol, a dropperful once or twice a day.
- As oil: fresh gotu kola packed into olive oil (or jojoba, if it’s for my own skin), covered with a paper towel for two weeks, then strained. You end up with a bright emerald-green oil I keep in the refrigerator.
Turmeric protects the brain and quiets inflammation everywhere else
Turmeric (Curcuma longa) is the most studied anti-inflammatory plant on earth, and it has earned every bit of that attention. It is a staple of Ayurvedic medicine, and I take it almost every night before bed.
Beyond inflammation, turmeric has been researched for its ability to support telomere length — the small caps at the ends of our chromosomes that shorten as we age. When telomeres fray, memory goes. Names slip. Words you were just about to say fall out of reach. Turmeric can’t stop aging, but it can slow down wear and tear on the scaffolding.
My twelve-year-old dog takes turmeric with me. His joints stay strong and he runs and jumps like a puppy.
How I use it:
- As food: in curries, soups, and anything else I’m cooking. A little black pepper, fenugreek or in a coconut oil base helps the body absorb it.
- As golden milk: warm milk (dairy or plant), turmeric, a pinch of black pepper, a little ginger, and honey.
- As a capsule or shot: many stores sell turmeric shots now. Follow the label dose, which is usually calibrated to a 150-pound person.
A word of caution: if you eat too much turmeric, it can make you queasy. Start small. If your stomach turns, you’ve found your ceiling — back off.
Ashwagandha resets the stress response and deepens sleep
Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) is what I keep on my nightstand. I’m not exaggerating. There’s a jar of it right there, and I take a spoonful every night before bed.
Ashwagandha is what herbalists call an adaptogen — a plant that helps the body recover from stress rather than piling on more. It calms the adrenals, which are the glands that pour cortisol into you every time life feels too big. For people who run anxious, or who can’t turn their minds off at night, ashwagandha is remarkable.
It is also what’s called a neuroprotective, meaning it supports the nervous system, and it has been shown to trigger long-term changes in the brain’s learning and memory pathways.
One note: ashwagandha is mildly stimulating to the thyroid. If you run hyperthyroid (overactive thyroid), skip it. If your thyroid runs normal or low, this herb is a friend.
The recipe I keep by my bed — an ashwagandha electuary:
- Start with one part organic ashwagandha powder.
- Add two parts raw honey (sometimes a little more if you want it thinner).
- Stir well, then let it sit for ten minutes — it will firm up.
- Take half a teaspoon before bed. (That’s the dose for a 150-pound person. Smaller bodies take less, larger bodies a bit more.)
Honey is a natural preservative, so you don’t need to refrigerate this. A small jar lasts weeks on a nightstand.
Rosemary is the herb of remembrance — and your brain knows it
Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus) has been called the herb of remembrance for centuries, and modern research keeps confirming what elder herbalists already knew: it supports memory, clears mental fog, and is gentle enough to use every day.
I grow it outside my door. When I teach, I’ll pinch off a sprig and smell it before class — and what I’m really doing is taking a deep breath, pulling more oxygen into my blood, and waking up my brain. You can do the same.
How I use it:
- As food: fresh or dried in roasted vegetables, soups, and breads.
- As tea: a teaspoon of dried leaves steeped in hot water for ten minutes.
- As a sniff: rub a fresh sprig between your fingers and breathe in before you sit down to focus.
- In a brain tincture: blended with gotu kola and ginkgo, rosemary makes an excellent daily tonic for mental clarity.
Ginger warms the circulation and settles almost any stomach
Ginger (Zingiber officinale) has been used for at least two thousand years, and it still earns its place in every herbalist’s cabinet. It warms the body, stimulates circulation, helps the heart, and calms nausea of almost any kind — including morning sickness and motion sickness.
For people who run cold as they age — cold hands, cold feet, sluggish digestion — ginger is a daily friend. It also scrubs gently at cholesterol deposits in the blood vessels over time.
My fresh ginger tea (the real medicine, not tea-bag ginger):
- Grate a two-inch piece of fresh ginger into a pot.
- Add about sixteen ounces of water.
- Simmer for ten to fifteen minutes with the lid on.
- Turn off the heat and let it sit, still covered, for another twenty minutes.
- Strain, add honey, and drink.
You can pair ginger with turmeric, which is what I’d suggest — the ginger helps with the queasiness some people get from too much turmeric. The two are a classic pair for a reason.
Astragalus builds deep immunity from the bone marrow out
Astragalus (Astragalus membranaceus) is what I reach for when someone is depleted, run-down, or recovering from a long illness. It’s a Chinese tonic herb, used for thousands of years to build what traditional medicine calls deep immunity.
Here’s what I find remarkable about it: astragalus supports the production of stem cells from the bone marrow. You can’t get any deeper than bone marrow. Those stem cells become red or white blood cells as the body needs them, which means astragalus doesn’t just boost one part of your defenses — it helps rebuild the foundation.
Astragalus has also been studied for its effects on telomere length, which ties it back to the long, slow work of graceful aging. And in my clinical experience, it plays well with most other herbs and most medications. That’s not true of every herb, and I don’t say it lightly.
How I use it:
- As a soup herb: dried astragalus root slices simmered in broth, soup, or beans for an hour. The slices are fibrous and should be removed before eating.
- As a tincture: a dropperful once or twice a day during cold and flu season.
- As a daily tonic: when someone is rebuilding after illness, I’ll combine astragalus with nettles and oats for a few months.
Ginseng resets your stress thermostat — but pick the right kind
Ginseng isn’t one plant. There are several, and they work differently, so don’t grab the first bottle you see.
- American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) is cooling. It’s better for people who run hot — fast metabolism, high blood pressure, high cholesterol.
- Korean, Chinese, and red ginseng (Panax ginseng) are warming. They’re better for people who run cold — post-menopausal women, older men, anyone whose circulation has slowed down.
- Siberian ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosus), often called eleuthero, isn’t technically a true ginseng, but it’s a well-studied adaptogen for stamina and stress.
All of these support what’s called the HPA axis — the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal loop that runs your stress response, your hormones, your heart rate, and your metabolism. A well-chosen ginseng can bring that loop back into balance when chronic stress has wound it too tight.
How I use it:
- As a daily tea: dried ginseng root simmered for twenty minutes, a cup in the morning.
- As a tincture: a dropperful under the tongue when energy is low.
- Not in the evening: ginseng is energizing. Take it before noon.
The herbs only work if the life around them works
I’ll say this plainly because my students have heard me say it for forty years: you can’t herb your way out of a bad diet, poor sleep, and a stressful life. The herbs help, but they can’t swim upstream against the rest of it.
What actually ages us gracefully:
- Real food. Fresh vegetables, dark leafy greens, good protein, whole grains, clean water. As organic as you can manage.
- Sleep. Deep, consistent, in the dark, without a phone glowing next to your head.
- Movement. Not punishing exercise — movement. Walking, dancing, yoga, gardening, swimming. Enough to raise your heart rate for a few minutes, several days a week.
- Bones. Weight-bearing movement, mineral-rich foods, and sometimes herbs like nettles, alfalfa, and horsetail to support bone density.
- Community. People to laugh with, talk to, cook with, and call when things are hard. Loneliness ages the body faster than almost anything else.
- Mindset. What you think, you eventually become. Chronic worry shows up in the body as inflammation, suppressed immunity, and poor sleep. A calmer mind is medicine too.
The herbs are the cherry on top — not the cake.
A note on herbs and prescription medications
If you take any prescription medications, please talk to someone qualified before adding herbs to your routine. Many herbs are perfectly safe alongside medications. A few are not.
A couple of specific cautions:
- Stop ginkgo and other blood-thinning herbs at least two weeks before any surgery. They can interact with anesthesia and increase bleeding.
- High doses of ginseng can be too stimulating for some people on blood pressure or heart medications.
- Ashwagandha should be avoided if your thyroid is overactive.
- Some herbs change how the liver processes pharmaceuticals, which means a drug you’re already taking could become too strong or too weak.
A good reference book for this is Herbal Contraindications and Drug Interactions by Francis Brinker. The Botanical Safety Handbook from the American Herbal Products Association is another solid one.
When in doubt, start with herbs that are also foods — ginger, turmeric, rosemary. Those are the safest place to begin.
Frequently asked questions
Can I take all seven of these herbs at once? You can, but I wouldn’t start there. Pick one or two that match what your body most needs — sleep, memory, energy, or immunity — and take those for a month before adding another. Herbs work better when you can actually tell what each one is doing.
Which herb should I try first if I’ve never taken any of these? Start with ginger and turmeric. They’re both foods, they’re both gentle, and almost everyone tolerates them well. Once those feel like old friends, try ashwagandha or gotu kola next.
How long before I notice a difference? For sleep and stress herbs like ashwagandha, most people notice something within a week or two. For deeper tonics like astragalus and ginseng, give it a good two to three months of consistent use. Herbs work slowly, and that’s part of why they work at all.
Are these herbs safe during pregnancy or breastfeeding? Some are, some are not. Ginger is fine and is actually used for morning sickness. Turmeric as a food is fine; high-dose capsules are not recommended. Ashwagandha, ginseng, and astragalus are generally avoided in pregnancy without the guidance of a qualified herbalist. Please don’t guess with this one.
Where can I buy high-quality herbs? Look for certified organic bulk herbs from companies that tell you where the plant was grown. Oshala Farm in Oregon (oshalafarm.com) is one I trust for dried herbs. Herb Pharm (herb-pharm.com) makes excellent tinctures and salves. Buying a cheap bottle from a grocery store and expecting real medicine is like buying vanilla extract made of vanillin and expecting it to taste like Madagascar.
What’s the difference between an infusion, a tincture, and an electuary? An infusion is a strong tea — usually a big jar of dried herbs covered in boiling water and steeped for up to eight hours. A tincture is a plant preserved in alcohol/water for several weeks and taken by the dropperful. An electuary is the simplest of all: an herb powder stirred into honey. You eat a spoonful.
Why do you say “graceful aging” instead of “anti-aging”? Because aging itself is not a problem to be solved. The real goal is to arrive in our seventies, eighties, and nineties with a clear mind, a body that still moves, and a spirit that still shows up. That’s what the herbs are in service of — not a wrinkle cream and not a promise I can’t keep.
