Support the launch of our new range!

Aim

Help us launch our new products. Scientifically chosen, naturally effective ways to rapidly help you feel Happy, Calm, and Protected.

BrainBalms. Scientifically chosen. Naturally effective.

Created and Made in Northumberland.

Our Story

BrainBalms began because of the scientific research carried out by its founder, pharmacognosist Dr Nicolette Perry. During her PhD into European sage to help memory loss in Alzheimer’s disease, she achieved some remarkable results that are relevant to us all today. 

Here Nicolette tells us why her research led her to create BrainBalms.

“Looking after the health of body and our mind is something we all want to do. I became fascinated by what plant medicine can do for us during my first degree studying the biology of health and disease. Encouraged by an inspirational tutor to do a 6-week summer project at the MRC (Medical Research Centre) in Newcastle upon Tyne we began research into plant medicine for memory - little did we know that this project would spark international research into plant medicine for memory.

After my research on European sage for memory and then further post doctorate research into plant medicine to relieve anxiety at Otago University in New Zealand, I experienced some stress in my life.

Not wanting to turn to conventional drugs, mainly because of the risk of side-effects and dependency, and now knowing the science of how plant medicine works in the brain, I decided to make my own naturally effective plant-based products rooted in science.”

After several years testing formulations BrainBalms was born. Our first range were safe, easy-to-use balms, that could be applied topically to calm the mind and lower anxiety, increase focus and memory, help treat insomnia and restlessness and help improve mood and lower depression.

Now, we’re launching a new range of intense oil atomisers which rapidly help you feel happy, calm, and protected and we need your support. The Intense Oil Atomisers are the same strength as eau de parfum, with up to 10% Essential Oils, and are made in Northumberland.

Your Support

We are launching the new range and crowdfunding will help us raise awareness of the benefits of the products to a wider audience. Every pledge will help us pay for the new bottles, packaging, and marketing to get the intense oil atomisers into the hands of people that will benefit.

The Rewards

Pledge £5 or more
To support us and get yourself a good feeling

Pledge £15 or more
5ml BrainBalms Treatment + FREE P&P
Choose one of our existing 5ml Treatments (Alert or Sleep) and we’ll pop it in the post to you.

Pledge £40 or more
50ml BrainBalms Intense Oil Atomiser + FREE P&P
Choose one of our new 50ml Intense Oil Atomisers (Happy, Calm, or Protect) and we’ll pop it in the post to you.

Pledge £100 or more
BrainBalms Intense Oil Atomiser Bundle + FREE P&P
All three of our new 50ml Intense Oil Atomisers (Happy, Calm, and Protect). We’ll box these up and send them out.

Pledge £200 or more
BrainBalms Super Bundle + FREE P&P
All three of our new 50ml Intense Oil Atomisers (Happy, Calm, and Protect), and all four of our existing 5ml treatments (Alert, Sleep). We’ll box these up and send them out with a little surprise too.

Plant Medicines Are Amazing

BrainBalms was born out of a scientific love of how traditionally used aromatic plants work. It was born out of how these plants work in the brain and of how effective they can be. Science now proves plant chemicals really can boost memory, mood and more. It proves that there can be effective natural products to help treat sleeplessness, low mood, stress and anxiety, inattention, lack of focus and memory loss. 

Plant medicines are amazing. They can enhance our life on many levels, body and mind, from being protective brain and body boosting agents like antioxidants, antibacterials, antivirals and anti-inflammatories. And when used correctly, at the right dose, they also make safe effective medicine to treat a range of conditions. Used for thousands of years and yet only now being proven by science!

Do plant chemicals really reach our brain?

Part of Nicolette’s research into sage for memory explored which plant chemical ingredients were bioactive. To set the record straight, plant chemicals are the same as drug chemicals (and some are the same thing – pain-relieving morphine comes directly from opium poppy). Drugs are single chemical entities, whereas a plant medicine contains more than one active chemical entity.

Familiar plant chemicals are flavonoids - like anti-inflammatory curcumin in turmeric, and alkaloids - like stimulating caffeine in coffee and pain-killing morphine from opium poppy. Less familiar are the terpenoids - like memory boosting cineole in sage.

Terpenoids like cineole are aromatic chemicals – the volatile chemicals you smell when you rub a sage leaf. Volatile means the chemicals can exist in the air and as such they can be detected by insects and inhaled by animals, including humans. These chemicals vary according to what the plant needs to do. ‘He that would live for aye, Must eat sage in May’ – cineole is at its highest in the sage plant in May.

Volatile plant chemicals are small and oil-loving. This means that not only are they easily absorbed into the blood through inhalation but through the skin on topical application. Once absorbed they enter the blood and can easily cross the blood brain barrier.

Once in the brain plant volatile chemicals can activate different brain signals. Some increase our memory signal acetycholine (like cineole in sage), others boost our main calming signal GABA (like pinene in chamomile), while others lower our excitatory signal glutamate (like linalool in lavender) and some even enhance a sleep signal adenosine – the neurotransmitter that increases during the day to make us feel sleepy. Plant chemicals also affect our good mood signals like serotonin and dopamine and so help in anxiety and depression and can even work on our pain signals like cannabidiol in hemp.

And so aromatic molecules in plants are shown by science to reach our brain (via ingestion, inhalation or topical application) and act on brain signals to help treat memory loss, anxiety, depression, insomnia, pain and more.

Clinical Science

Though we now know how many of these plant chemicals work in the brain, it’s the clinical trials on plant medicine that is going some way to persuade general medicine today that plant medicine is safe and effective medicine. In some cases these clinical trials are discovering that, in head-to-head trials compared to conventional drugs, plant medicine is as effective, but carries fewer side-effects such as drowsiness and addiction.

There is still much to be done in the research of plant medicine and especially in the UK, where we lag behind other countries. And there is also much to be done to ensure the proper regulation of plant medicine – to prevent unscrupulous companies selling adulterated or ineffective products.

To treat a condition with plant medicine it is all about using the correct plant medicine/s for your individual needs and about reaching an effective medicinal dose. Always first consult a NIMH registered medical herbalist and inform your healthcare provider before taking any plant medicine at a medicinal level if you are giving to a child, pregnant, have any medical condition, or are taking any medication.

Thank you for your support. It will really make a difference to us.

This project successfully funded on 15th December 2020