Bragon bones is believed to be effective for mental illness

What are dragon bones(Long Gu)? It mainly refers to the ossature fossil of ancient time’s mammals, such as proboscidae, hipparion, elasmotheres, cervidae, bovid, and so on. Other names include Fossilized Bones, Fossilia Ossis Mastodi, Ossa Draconis, Os Draconis, Dragon’s Bone, bones of the dragon, and so on. It should be emphasized that those animal bones that are unfossilized or age-old and completely petrified cannot be used for medicinal purposes since has no moisture absorption at all. In China it is basically produced in Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Henan, Hebei, Shaanxi, Gansu and other places. It can be collected all year round – dig out, remove dirt and impurities, store in a dry place, and use raw or calcined.

Medicinally the Wu Hua Long Gu is usually considered with a better efficacy. It is in irregular sizes and shapes. And it is yellowish white, mixed up with blue-gray and red-brown patterns, and with varying shades and thickness. Surface is smooth, and with small cracks occasionally. Section is mostly rough, hard and brittle, and easily peeled off and scattered into pieces. It is highly absorbent and has suction when licked with tongue. It is odorless and tasteless. On quality the preferred one is crisp, layered with colored patterns, and with high hygroscopicity.

Dragon bone health benefits
As has been noted, clinically it has been widely used for the treatment of Hypertension, delirium, Coronary Heart disease, mental illness, Schizophrenia, anxiety, and so on. Take treating insomnia as an example. As you know, sleep, as essential as water and food to the human body, is one of extremely important life-sustaining physiological functions. Poor quality of seep will lead to reduced people’s decision making ability, impaired brain function, emotional instability, uncontrolled behavior, paranoia, and lower attention span. And long-term insomnia can, worse still, seriously affect the work and learning, and thus greatly reduce the quality of life and speed up the aging process. As far as Insomnia is concerned, it can be triggered by a variety of causes. But apparently in this modern society, most of them are associated with stress, more or less.

From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, most of drugs of minerals, fossils, and shells are heavy and descending in nature. Heaviness is able to calm and remove timidity and descending means suppress yang. From the point of view of the modern medicine, these herbs are rich in phosphorus and calcium ingredients, which are of great help on tranquilizing and allaying excitement. By the way, Long Chi (Dens Draconis), Zhen Zhu Mu (Pearl Shell), Shi Jue Ming (Abalone Shell), etc. are also considered with ability of calming nerves and helping fall asleep fast.