A recent study published in Nutrients explores the utility of lemon verbena in improving the sleep of individuals with poor sleep. Study: Dietary Supplementation with an Extract of Aloysia citrodora (Lemon verbena) Improves Sleep Quality in Healthy Subjects: A Randomized Double-Blind Controlled Study. Image Credit: Brent Hofacker / Shutterstock.
com The lack of adequate and/or restful sleep affects millions of people throughout the world, as it disrupts their normal functioning and emotional equilibrium. Sleep disorders also reduce coping ability and hinders social interactions. As a result, poor sleep reduces affected individuals’ quality of life, in addition to increasing their risk of neuropsychiatric issues and other medical illnesses.
Poor sleep interacts bidirectionally with stress; therefore, if both occur together, the prognosis is worse. Although certain therapeutics are available to treat sleep disorders, their effects are often short-term. Additionally, many of these medications have the potential to be addictive and cause adverse effects.
Due to the limitations associated with conventional sleep treatments, increased research has been dedicated towards the identification of non-pharmacological therapies. To this end, previous studies has demonstrated that various herbal formulations have the ability to potentiate sleep quality and modulate pain intensity in adults suffering from chronic pain. Lemon verbena (‘Aloysia citrodora Paláu’ or Lippia citrodora Kunt.