Most downers backfire on me. I have only had one medic acknowledge this -- and I strongly suspect that one is neurovariant. Everyone said it's impossible. He said, "Oh yeah, that's a known phenomenon."

Best I can tell, my body interprets most such things as poison and breaks them as fast as possible. I wind up hypervigilant and vibrating, which is the opposite of helpful.

Most relaxing herbs either don't affect me or have normal soothing effects, though. Chamomile and linden are mild, valerian and hops stronger. So I have a collection of "evening" teas in my cabinet.