In the next two blog posts, Ifeoma Akobi, doctoral candidate at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indianaopolis, reflects on her time with the Sleeping Well in the Early Modern World project as a visiting scholar. In this first post, Ifeoma introduces us to her own work, and the people, places and plants she encountered during her time with the project.

Projects

I am a pharmacist, public health practitioner, and scholar of philanthropy and the nonprofit sector at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, Indiana University, Indianapolis, where I research burnout and employee well-being. I began this project in response to the work stress, burnout, high turnover rates, and difficulties in hiring new workers that I observed in the nonprofit sector. I also noticed that poor sleep is an area of concern within nonprofit burnout scholarship, as it is both a cause and consequence of burnout. My goal is to identify sustainable and accessible solutions to this problem. Through the Sleeping Well project, I became acquainted with the herbal books and remedies of apothecaries (pharmacists) of the Early Modern World (c.1500-1750), as well as the recipe books of enterprising homemakers. Within the pages of these historical materials, I discovered the world of sleep dietetics (foodstuffs that were prepared and eaten to support healthy sleep) and soporifics (plants used in pharmaceutical preparations due to their sleep-inducing properties). I am grateful for the grants I received from my university to conduct this research.

People

It was a pleasure and honour to meet the members of the Sleeping Well in the Early Modern World project. The project, funded by the Wellcome Trust, is uncovering the many ways in which historic sleep practices were rooted in people’s physical engagements with their environments, and with different plant and animal species. I met Professor Sasha Handley, Eleanor Shaw, Dr Abi Greenall, Dr Holly Fletcher, and Lucy Elliott at the University of Manchester, UK, while I met Dr Anna Fielding at Ordsall Hall, a heritage property in nearby Salford. In addition, I met other researchers at the Wellcome Collection in London, UK through a visit facilitated by Sasha. I am grateful for the warm welcome, insightful conversations, and happy interactions I had with all the team members. I am also thankful to Sasha for her leadership and support in ensuring that I met the right people and went to relevant places.

Places

The first site I visited was the John Rylands Research Institute and Library. In addition to being impressed by the architecture, I particularly liked the fact that Enriqueta Rylands commissioned the library as a memorial to her husband – a beautiful gift and practice of philanthropy! Some of the publications I explored included John Gerard’s The Herbal or General History of Plants (1597), and William Bullein’s Bulwark of Defence against all Sickness, Soreness and Wounds that Daily assault Mankind (1579). I also looked at manuscript recipe books, such as one by Mary Bennett Junior (1734). I used the modern English language spelling for the herbal books.

Titlepage, William Bullein, Bulwark of Defence against all Sickness, Soreness and Wounds that Daily assault Mankind (1579).

My next location was Ordsall Hall where I had the pleasure of seeing some of the plants in their natural habitat. I left with a bouquet made of sage, lemongrass, rosemary, and wheat. The apothecaries of the past believed that people could place these plants in rooms to freshen the air, and aid sleep. From this perspective, having fresh herbs in living spaces was a clever idea for promoting well-being. I kept them on a table in my room.

Ordsall Hall

Finally, I ended my field trip with a visit to the Wellcome Collection in London. I learned even more about some medicinal plants and preparations used for sleep. There were several books to look at. I enjoyed reading the work of John Wesley, John Pechey, Humphrey Brooke as well as a recipe book by Jane Jackson. I also had the pleasure of meeting the staff and scholars there. It was a chance to learn about their work with sleep plants while discussing my work on burnout. I consider it a rare privilege to learn about these plants from a historical perspective while thinking about their contemporary applications and implications for the well-being of employees in the nonprofit sector, and the ripple effects on the public.

Plants

During my field trip to Manchester, UK, I encountered several soporific plants in the form of grains, leaves, and flowers. One of my favourites is the red rose. It was the most widely used soporific plant species in Early Modern England according to a database of soporific remedies compiled by the Sleeping Well research team. Rose is mentioned 131 times in the database (thank you, Abi, for your help with accessing the database). The rose (red, damask, and wild briar) was common in English gardens. Damask rose came from the Eastern Mediterranean but was cultivated in English gardens. Wild briar was common in hedgerows, especially in southern England. Medical practitioners of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries classified their elemental properties as cold and dry, astringent, and bitter. Today, we know that roses contain several phytochemical compounds including flavonoids, tannins, and vitamins.

John Gerard, Red Rose, The Herball or General Historie of Plants (1597) © Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

The rose recipes included in the project database include sleep-inducing tonics but also remedies to be consumed in or before bed for ailments that might prevent a good night’s sleep. Today, we can use roses for their calming and antioxidant properties: use rosewater in inhalation therapies, rose flowers for tea, and rose oil for massaging the temples.

I also enjoyed learning about rosemary. Ordinary rosemary grew well in English gardens and in natural places. Exceptional care was needed in the first winter after the seeds were sown, while wild rosemary grew in Lancashire. The whole rosemary plant is overly sweet, and the leaves have a quick spicy taste. It first flowers in April and May. A historical sleep recipe involved steeping rosemary flowers and cowslip flowers in white wine for one night and taking 3 or 4 spoons at night with sugar. The manuscript reads, “Recipe for a cordial water to procure sleep: Take rosemary flowers & cowslip flowers & steep ym all night in as much white wine as will couer ym yn still ym in a rose water still & take therof 3 or 4 spoonfulls at night in bed mix’t w[i]th fine flower of sugar (University of Pennsylvania, Kislak Library MS Codex 624 p.65).

In my next post, I will share my reflections on using historical recipes for sleep, and how this applies to the study of self-care in my research.

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