3 Herbs To Help You Fall Asleep

by Dr. Jeremy Johnson

An estimated 45% of Americans say that poor or insufficient sleep affects their daily activities at least one time per week! 

How many times have you been lying in bed staring at the ceiling? This problem of falling asleep is a major obstacle, but there may be a few things you can do to help improve your sleep patterns.

You can read about some of these ways by clicking on this link, 3 Herbs To Help You Stay Asleep, a previous article on the Utzy blog.

As we discussed last week, plants have a long history of use supporting sleep. This goes back to the Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians.

Without the modernity of studying plants that we have today, people then simply did not have the knowledge to realize all the complexities and actions of the herbs that they consumed. 

There are literally thousands of chemicals in plants and many of those have the health-promoting properties that they sought and stumbled upon over time.

Today, we know that plants produce numerous phytochemicals, each having their own unique properties and attributes.

These three herbs have been used historically and have also been recently studied in clinical trials looking at ways to improve sleep.

1. Valerian Root – It is suggested that it works by improving levels of the amino acid GABA (Gamma aminobutyric acid). This herb is probably one of the most studied sleep remedies with results finding improvement in the time that it takes to fall asleep and the quality of sleep experienced. 

2. Passionflower – This herb also works by improving levels of GABA in the body. Another benefit of passionflower is research suggesting mood support.

3. Skullcap Root Extract – This herb works a little differently than the first two, in that it helps calm the nerves. For those who have difficulty falling asleep, skullcap could help relieve stress that often affects sleep quality. Especially for those who feel tense or irritable, Skullcap can be an excellent remedy for difficulty falling asleep.  

There are many herbs that have been used for thousands of years. 

These past two weeks, we have discussed herbs that can be used to help someone fall asleep and stay asleep through the whole night.

If you would like to see more about plant medicine studied in clinical trials, visit www.PlantMedicineNews.com. 

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Dr. Johnson's (PharmD, Ph.D.) research has lead to more than 45 publications and published abstracts in the health promoting properties of natural products, phytochemicals and plant extracts. Dr. Johnson researches and develops everything Utzy offers. He also runs and operates www.plantmedicinenews.com, a resource that digs into the clinical research being done on botanical medicine.