After all, sleeping pills are not the only solution for sleeplessness, also known as insomnia. In a new study, researchers found evidence to support Ocimum tenuiflorum and Poria cocos as alternative solutions that should be considered. These medicinal plants include novel compounds based on a computational technique that can be used to treat insomnia.
Researchers had identified two natural compounds from Ocimum tenuiflorum and Poria cocos that exhibited high binding affinity with receptors that enhanced the sedative effects of these medicinal plants, surpassing commercial drugs used in insomnia treatment.
Ocimum tenuiflorum is popularly known as a scent leaf; it is known as efinrin (Yoruba), nchanwu (Igbo), and daidoya (Hausa). This plant is well known for its medicinal and spiritual properties in Ayurveda, which include aiding cough, asthma, diarrhoea, fever, dysentery, arthritis, eye diseases, indigestion, and gastric ailments.
For two millennia, traditional Chinese medicine has employed poria cocos, an edible medicinal mushroom. Researchers are interested in it as a possible treatment for a variety of ailments’ symptoms.
It’s showing promise as a treatment for numerous health conditions, especially Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, and diabetes. It may also have benefits for digestion, insomnia, depression, osteoporosis, and skin ageing.
According to the study, which was published in Comput Biol Med, these therapeutic plants’ chemical constituents showed significant drug-like qualities, favourable pharmacokinetics, and reduced toxicity.
Insomnia, a widespread public health issue, is associated with substantial distress and daytime functionality impairments and can predispose to depression and cardiovascular disease.
These leaves are used by traditional medicine practitioners in many tropical countries, including Nigeria, as sedatives, relief from anxiety, and antipsychotic remedies.
Until now, neurological conditions that can be precipitated by insomnia were normally treated with sedatives. Medical research on insomnia and other sleep disorders is ongoing, and efforts to develop novel treatments—particularly those involving herbs—are encouraging.
There aren’t any effective medications available right now to treat chronic insomnia.
People rapidly develop tolerance to existing sleep medications, leading them to take higher doses and to mix medications. This can result in bad side effects and even worse insomnia when they try to reduce the medications.
A growing interest in sleep health is the production of functional foods that can facilitate sleep. As such, a re-evaluation of compounds used in Eastern medicine is underway for foods that help promote sleep.
The research provides a solid foundation for further exploring and validating these compounds as potential anti-insomnia therapeutics.
Previously, researchers from the Republic of Korea concluded that extracts obtained from Poria cocos could improve the quality of sleep, showing promising opportunities for alternatives to sleep-inducing drugs.
In a trial, they found that participants who were experiencing symptoms of insomnia reported improvements in both the duration of their sleep and the quality of their subjective sleep.
Pachymic acid, found in high concentrations in Poria cocos, plays a key role in its effectiveness. It has been associated with maintaining cognitive and physical balance, promoting mental well-being, and enhancing diuretic function.
Furthermore, pachymic acid can stimulate serotonin release, alleviate symptoms of anxiety, stress, and depression, and help with the prevention and treatment of insomnia.
The study involved 21 insomnia sufferers with a mean age of 55 who were administered two capsules containing 800 mg of the investigational Poria cocos extract, once daily, 30 min to one hour before sleep.
Participants were assessed using a sleep questionnaire and polysomnography (PSG), a sleep study method that records brain waves, blood oxygen levels, heart rate, and breathing during sleep.
Individuals using medicines or supplements to improve sleep and those likely to smoke or consume alcohol during the intervention period were excluded. Additionally, subjects using anti-hyperlipidemic drugs, beta-blockers, bronchodilators, and corticosteroids were excluded.
The result showed a statistically significant rise in the overall duration of sleep, a notable decrease in the level of arousal during sleep, and an improvement in the sleep severity index of the sleep questionnaire test.
According to the researchers, “the most important thing accomplished by the study was providing objective data on the clinical efficacy of Poria cocos extracts.”
They anticipate that further study efforts will lead to discoveries regarding the amounts of pachymic acid and its precise pharmacological mechanism for promoting sleep.
In addition to not having a placebo group, the study’s shortcomings are acknowledged by the authors, who also point out the need for more dose research and a lack of control for other variables that may affect insomnia.
Similar to this, Stachytarpheta cayennensis, also known as snakeweed and rat tail (tsarkiyarkuusuu in Hausa and agogo igun in Yoruba), is used for a variety of purposes in Nigeria and other parts of the world, including anxiety and insomnia.
The African Journal of Traditional Complement Alternative Medicine researchers provided support for the traditional usage of the leaves as an ethnomedical remedy for anxiety and sleeplessness.
In this animal study, the administration of the extract significantly and dose-dependently potentiated sleep in mice. The extract was shown to potentiate sleep to the greatest extent; this effect was similar to that of diazepam and chlorpromazine. Additionally, it was discovered that the oral route that is the traditional method for administering the leaf extract ethnomedically—was safe.
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