Three top herbs that work so you can sleep - valerian, passionflower and hops

Getting a good night's sleep is essential, if not crucial, to good health. We have often heard that you need to sleep for eight hours to get the necessary rest needed for the body and mind. That figure, however, probably represents an average. For different individuals, that may vary.

Our bodies do a good job of internally regulating sleep. When we get tired, our bodies let us know. But with busy lifestyles, ever-changing schedules, travel, worries, stress, or even a good late-night movie that keeps us up longer than our body would like, we all occasionally suffer from insomnia. Sound familiar?

Call it what you will -- anxiety, stress or just plain excitement -- it can lead to insomnia. Much of our society turns to prescription drugs -- potent drugs -- that can involve risks, including overdose, tolerance, habit-forming behavior, even addiction. Often, too, these drugs may react with alcohol, as is the case with barbiturates, or lead to drowsiness the day after.

Over-the-counter drugs are also available, but many consumers are seeking alternatives. Ultimately, many insomniacs, who do not need a physician's attention, may discover that specific herbs successfully help them to achieve sleep without annoying, or harmful, side effects.

Herbs that are used for the treatment of insomnia generally work by producing a depressant effect on the central nervous system. According to Varro Tyler, Ph.D., of Purdue University, in his book, Herbs of Choice, agents used to treat anxiety or insomnia are referred to by numerous names, including "sleep aids, sedatives, hypnotics, soporifics, antianxiety agents, anxiolytics, calmatives and minor tranquilizers."

Herbs which fall into any of the above categories are often ambiguously called nervines. The factor that places herbs in any of these various categories is the dose. To act best as a sleep aid, generally larger doses are used.

These three (3) herbs used to treat insomnia

Many herbs, available in capsule, tincture or tea, have been used traditionally to treat insomnia, including these three:

* Valerian (Valeriana officinalis);

* Passionflower (Passiflora incarnata); and,

* Hops (Humulus lupulus), to name a few.

Valerian, derived from the roots of Valeriana officinalis, is sometimes called "Emperor's sleeping pill." It is a highly variable plant occurring from eastern, southeastern and east-central Europe, extending to south Sweden and the southern Alps, and locally naturalized in the west.

Early colonists brought the plant to North America and it has escaped from cultivation. In North America it is found from Nova Scotia to Pennsylvania, Ohio, Minnesota and Quebec. Valerian is grown commercially in Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands, The Czech Republic, Hungary, as well as in the' United States.

The 1st century Greek physician, Dioscorides, and his contemporaries, wrote about valerian as Phu, a name which has the same wordroot as our colloquial one-word expression "phew."

Valerian has a very peculiar and distinct fragrance. The essential oil has been used as a perfume ingredient.

Like catnip, valerian attracts cats. The famous 18th century English physician, William Cullen, suggested that the quality of valerian in apothecary shops could be determined by how cats react to it.

Traditionally, valerian is one of the best known herbal tranquilizers. That use was not known to the ancients, but evolved from usage in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Valerian has other time-tested health benefits

Valerian tea and tincture are considered antispasmodic, anodyne, carminative, hypnotic and nervine. In addition to use as a sleep aid, it has historically been used to help relieve stress, muscle spasms, mental depression and despondency, migraine, stomach cramps, fatigue and nervous conditions in general, which may all be contributors to insomnia.

Over the past 30 years, over 200 scientific studies on the active chemical components of valerian and their effects have been published in the scientific literature, especially in Europe. Experimental data indicate a rational scientific basis for mild sedative qualities, spasm-reducing ability, and an ability to increase coronary blood flow, as well as mild pain-relieving qualities.

Over 120 chemical components have been identified from the root and its essential oil. Several of those components have been shown to be involved in the plant's sedative activity, although, to this day, scientists are not sure exactly which chemical group is the "active" component.

It appears that valerian's sleep-aid activity is the result of a synergistic combination of different chemical compounds.

It is a good example of how herbal medicines rely on a complex of chemical components, working together, rather than a single active component.

A number of clinical studies have verified valerian's safety and usefulness as a sleep aid. In the 1980s, P.D. Leathwood, F. Chauffard and other researchers of Switzerland's Nestle Corporation published a number of clinical studies on the effects of valerian extracts on sleep patterns.

Valerian improves sleep without the "hangover-like" effect

In one study, 128 volunteers reported subjective improvements in ratings for sleep quality and the time it took to fall asleep, but without producing a "hangover-like" effect, which is a common complaint of users of synthetic sedative drugs.

In another study, those who reported that they were habitually poor sleepers, or who took a long time to fall asleep, had the best results. The authors conducted several additional studies, with the ultimate conclusion being that the extracts helped to significantly improve sleep quality of those suffering from mild insomnia; in addition, the herb supplement proved to have minimal side effects.

One of the benefits of valerian, as noted by several researchers, is that, unlike conventional sleep aids, valerian does not interact with alcohol and it does not produce a hangover effect the following morning.

The German Commission E monograph on valerian, the basis for its regulation in that country, allows it to be used in sedative and sleep-inducing preparations, for states of excitation and difficulty in falling asleep due to nervousness. No side effects, special warnings, contraindications or drug interactions were noted.

Passionflower is a fast-growing perennial vine occurring from Virginia to southern Illinois and southeast Kansas, south to Florida and Texas. Traditionally, the fresh or dried whole plant has been used in the treatment of conditions of nervous anxiety.

However, for whatever reason, passionflower never become an important medicinal plant in the United States. Like many American medicinal plants, it is more highly revered in modern Europe than in its native land.

Today, the American passionflower is used in a number of proprietary phytomedicines (plants used medicinally) in Europe. The German Commission E monograph allows passionflower to be labeled for "conditions of nervous anxiety." The monograph lists the dosage at 6 g/day of the herb in an infusion (tea) or other methods of preparation for internal use. Products are made from the fresh or dried whole plant (excluding the root). It is usually collected at flowering time.

Passionflower's effective compounds continue to be identified

Like valerian, the exact chemical components responsible for the plant's sedative activity have not been conclusively identified. Researchers have found small amounts of alkaloids in the plant, as well as compounds called flavonoids.

Some believe the flavonoids to be the active compounds. Still other researchers believe that substances known as maltol and ethyl-maltol may be responsible for the sleep-inducing and muscle-relaxant activity attributed to passionflower.

While the active constituents and mechanism of action of passion-flower are poorly understood by chemists and pharmacologists, numerous animal studies show that extracts have a depressive effect on the central nervous system. The degree of effect is dependent on the dose.

Hops are a twining vine native to Europe, but also found in North America and Asia. The part used is the dried fruiting bodies called "strobiles." Hops, of course, are the most familiar flavoring ingredient of beer.

Hops are used in herbal medicine for a variety of symptoms

In herbal medicine, hops are sedative, antispasmodic and a digestive stimulant for the treatment of nervous tension, restlessness and sleep disturbances, as well as for lack of appetite.

It has been reported that a pillow stuffed with hops has been used to help an insomniac sleep. No side effects, contraindications or adverse drug interactions from the use of hops are known.

Ripe hops contain a yellow granular powder called lupulin, which contains the plant's active principles. Hops are the subject of a German therapeutic monograph, with use approved for mood disturbances (unrest, anxiety) and sleep disturbances. The European Scientific Cooperative for Phytotherapy has produced a proposed monograph indicated usage for nervous tension, excitability, restlessness, sleep disturbances and lack of appetite.

List of references available

Steven Foster is a specialist in medicinal and aromatic plants. He is the author of eight books, including Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients Used in Food, Drugs and Cosmetics (with Albert Leung); (John Wiley & Sons, 1995), and over 500 articles. Foster is a noted botanical photographer and serves as a consultant to the medicinal plant industries.

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