Chinese Medicine and Insomnia Symptoms

Posted by Cathy on
no insomnia with chinese herbs

Insomnia, whether for a prolonged time or a short duration is a dreaded cycle that can drive us to the brink of insanity. There nothing worse than being so tired all day long that we just can’t think straight. When you finally hit the pillow you sleep only a few hours  and can’t get back to sleep. People cope with insomnia in different ways, some start their day at 4 AM  because “there is just no sense in staying in bed” others rely on prescription drugs. Regardless of how you decide to cope with the lack of sleep here’s a quick look at insomnia from the Chinese medicine perceptive. This little insight or different perspective,  may help you change whatever is going on in your life that’s affecting your sleep patterns

 

Chinese Medicine, practiced continuously now for over 2000 years, categorizes insomnia into 4 main groups.  

1.       Insomnia due to over-thinking or disharmony between work and rest. When it’s time to sleep your mind should not be thinking of all the days plans, all that worries you or what needs to be done tomorrow. Your mind should simply not be talking to you. Your mind should be active during daytime hours and quiet at night.  There are many techniques in Chinese medicine to help you quiet your mind such as Tai Qi, meditation, exercise and other stress reducers.  A proper discussion of these techniques will be addressed in another article. Herbal medicines can help stop these over thinking habits and help quiet your mind without being addictive. 

2.      Insomnia due to sickness or advancing age. When we are extremely weak and/or recovering  from an illness it is not uncommon to have sleeping difficulties. During this time both qi and blood are deficient which nourish our heart, kidney and spleen channels of Chinese medicine. Rebuild and replenish yourself with a proper diet and supplements and this pattern will subside.

3.        Insomnia due to panic, anger and excessive worry will gradually lead to chronic insomnia. This pattern is especially worrisome because of  it’s chronic, (ongoing) nature. Emotions that are buried and not addressed during the daytime hours may in a sense, haunt us at night. These emotions cause a deficiency of heart qi  and transform and flare up disturbing the mind at night. Dealing with emotional problems during waking hours will prevent this type of insomnia.

4.    Insomnia due to spicy, fatty, raw and even cold food late at night. This type of insomnia is the easiest to change. Simply stop eating 3-4 hours before going to bed. Over eating from a Chinese Medicine perspective  leads to phlegm and  heat and both interfere with restful sleep. The body cannot optimize digestion late at night. Your body needs time to process the foods eaten during the day and clean itself out.

These four patterns cover the gamut of sleeping problems in Chinese medicine. Some people suffer from just one pattern, (typically # 1)  others suffer from a combination of them. Once you identify your pattern you can take steps in your life to make the necessary changes to give your body and your mind the rest it needs.

Integrating Supplements and Chinese Herbs Into Western Medicine

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It's been nearly a month since I had a chance to listen to an incredible group of M.D's  talk about what "Wellness" looks like today.  So I've had a little time to discuss the topic and think it over.

Is wellness not missing work?  Is it simply feeling healthy?  Wellness, no doubt looks and feels different for different people.  I believe wellness starts with the right information.  Information on how to stay healthy no matter what age you are and information on how to be well if you don't feel well now.   

But what else? What do you really need, to stay "well"?  Are wellness supplements needed and which ones will really make a difference?    This was the central theme of the 8th annual conference called Natural Supplements: An Evidence Based Update held in San Diego by the Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine.  If you are not familiar with the term Integrative Medicine it's about time you should be. 

Dr. Tieraona Low Dog, one of the many incredible presenters over the weekend said it best, "Integrative medicine just makes sense—it is a re-emergence of viewing the patient as a whole human being, a person with a rich story, a history and set of beliefs and a culture that you must consider in the co-creation of a treatment plan."  Dr. LowDog is on the faculty of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine  at the University of Arizona where she currently serves as the Director of the Fellowship. Dr. Andrew Weil has this to say about her, "Dr. Low Dog is one of the world's leading authorities on botanical medicine & dietary supplements."  

Over the course of three days of lectures there was an wealth of information, certainly too much for this blog.

But in regards to "Wellness"  a review of natural supplement research presented by Dr. Joseph Betz discussed the "Best Supplements of the Year".   In his review of scientific literature, six of his top nine supplement list were Chinese herbs.  Six on the "BEST of 2010" list. How Fantastic!!  These 6 Chinese herbs have been studied repeatedly and systematic reviews have been published in the most popular medical journals. 

They are:  (in alphabetical order) 

1.  Bilberry –  (Man Yue Ju)   (Active ingredient Anthocyanidins)

2.  Ginko Biloba – (Bai Gou)

3.  Milk Thistle – Silybum Marianumn – (Shui Fei Ji)

4.  Pepperment (Bo He)

5.  Red Yeast Rice – (Hong Mi or Chi Qu)

6.  Thunder God Vine – Tripterygium Wilfordi Hook (Lei Gong Teng)

Just for the record the other three natural supplements on Dr. Betz's list for 2010 were Pomegranate Juice, Echinacea and Cranberry Juice.

It will take at least another blog or more to talk about all the benefits of these amazing herbs. For now, we in Chinese herbal medicine fields feel somewhat vindicated that Western medicine is beginning to catch up and recognize what Asian cultures have known for centuries.  Finally the Western literature begins to surface on Chinese herbal remedies. 

 

Note: Dr. Joseph Betz works at the Office of Dietary Supplements at the National Institute of Health (NIH)

Herbal Sugar Options – Choices You Should Know About

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Have you seen the TV ad on sugar?  It says the body can’t tell the difference between cane sugar and corn sugar.  Well if you were ever going to trust a TV commercial, I would not choose this one.  

Want to know what’s safe and what’s dangerous in the sweetener world?  Looking for a natural alternative to satisfy your sweet tooth?

High Fructose corn syrup (HRCS)  is made by processing some of its glucose into fructose to produce a desired level of sweetness. But because of its processing, some brands can contain mercury  a known neurotoxin.  What’s worse, is studies show it suppresses the “full sensation”  causing people to over eat.  Studies in rats proved this theory. 

Fructose comes from the sugar in fruits. .. but it also contains glucose and fiber and other nutrients. 

Today, some 70% of packaged foods contain sugar, most of it the HFCS type.   According to the Journal of the American Medical Association,  sugar and simple carbohydrates like refined grains and HFCS may increase your risk for heart disease and stroke through fat accumulation, metabolic syndrome, obesity, premature aging, and type 2 diabetes.  This is nothing new.  We’ve all heard that sugar is bad for us. 

Here are some better natural choices when it comes to satisfying  that sweet taste you love. 

Stevia is a South American herb that is estimated to be some 150 to 400 times sweeter than sugar.  Coca-Cola is even using it for a few of their low calorie drinks now.  We added a little to our Menopause Relief after 100% of our taste testing women loved it with stevia.  Sometimes Chinese herbs can be just a little off, but with stevia everybody can drink and enjoy Menopause Relief Herb Pack.

Xylitol and Erythritol:   They look like sugar and taste like cane sugar, though some people find that xylitol has a laxative effect. Xylitol was originally isolated from birch sap. Erythritol occurs naturally in fruits and fermented foods.

Inulin:  Isolated from Jerusalem artichoke, it is available as a powder or as artichoke syrup. Inulin is a long-chain polysaccharide that is mostly too long a sugar to absorb into the blood stream.

Lo Han Guo: Made from a Chinese herb.  It’s a fantastic non-glycemic sweetener  It is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine to treat cough and laryngitis and is a common tea in parts of Asia. Because it can be difficult to find and it’s great for my diabetic patients.

Honey (raw, organic) is always the natural sweetener of choice. Look for wild honey because it is lower in free fructose and higher in trace mineral content, especially the richer dark varieties.

Maple syrup:  Love it, always have. As a kid I worked harvesting and cooking the sap.  It’s  the only sustainably-harvested, large-scale, forest sweetener in the world. Maple is one of the richest source of minerals found in any sweetener. Look for organic maple syrup and maple crystals as an ingredient. YUM

Unsulfured, organic sugarcane molasses:  It’s rich in vitamins and minerals and has been purported (like fresh sugar cane) to have “anti-stiffness factors” that break down detrimental calcification.

Coconut palm sugar:  Now available as a sweetener. It is usually heat-processed, so try to find raw coconut palm sugar.

 

 

 

 

Tackling Sleep Disorders in The Work Place

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Pac Herbs natural sleep aid iSleepNeed something to keep you from dragging through your day? Want something to inspire you so the boss will notice what a great asset you really are?    We all have those days where we are just dragging our butts to the office and sleep walking through our work day.

Here are a few tips I use to keep me going when the all I really want to do is go back to bed.

#1.  Coffee works for a while, but I prefer natures superfuel, a straight up ginseng drink. It perks up my mental focus and gives me the energy to make it through the evening commute.  Ginseng is one of the most studied Chinese herbs, it’s used world wide for treating stress, helps improve mental clarity and alertness.

#2.  Fresh Air! Get your butt outside at lunch time and walk. It’s sounds easy when the weathers nice but no one’s going out there in the middle of winter.  So hit the stairwell’s or the company gym treadmill if you have one. No-body is meant to stay sitting all day.

#3.   Power Nap on your break!  Take 15 minutes with an ipod and a eye mask and get away from it all.  If you don’t have an ipod there’s plenty of great meditations on line or find some soothing music on Pandora.  If all that fails, ear plugs are easy and cheap.

#4.  Early to bed, early to rise, may not fit everyone’s lifestyle, but it does make for good advice if you’re trying to impress the boss and stay awake on the job.  Try it a couple of times, you never know, it might just grow on you. 

#5.   Stay hydrated. Don’t reach for a soft drink or another cup of coffee which will dehydrate you even more.  Your best bet is green tea.  Green tea contains natural catechin polyphenols, particularly epigallocatechin gallate  (say that one 5x fast)   (EGCG) a powerful anti-oxidant.  What sets green tea apart is the way it is processed. Green tea leaves are steamed, which prevents the EGCG compound from being oxidized.

Thanks for reading!! Drop us a comment with your suggestions.


Sexy New Natural Products like Sleep Aids through Science

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We can create better nutrition through science, right?  We can isolate green tea extract and mix it into our processed cereal to create a heart healthy product, right?  We can remove the curcuminoids from curcumin (which originates in herbs like turmeric) and add it to a chocolate bar to help reduce cholesterol, right?  Through chemistry we can isolate every health polysaccarides, saponin, polyphenol and trace mineral and put them into a drink, a food bar or any other new product formulation and call it a "natural product", right?

Technically speaking the answers to the above questions are yes.  But are we missing the forest from the trees.  We have no long term historical use that eating chemically extracted and combined super foods is actually good for the human body. 

Scientists/product developers are continually trying to improve upon nature for new natural product formulations for sleep, energy, hot flashes, well being, or … you fill in the blank.    But maybe, just maybe, our bodies don't know how to handle this new nutrition.  Does anybody stop and consider this is the first time in the history of man's diet that people are eating this way? 

Do our genetics change overnight to process these nutritional supplements which we've never ingested before?

What's lost in the process is the human bodies response to this myriad of natural chemical components that maybe, just maybe were never meant to be together in the first place.  Maybe a blueberry was never meant to cross paths with a chemically created biotin because the chemical components would never be found together in nature.

What I love about Chinese herbal medicine natural supplements is the lack of artificially created chemicals.  Chinese herbs combined together with other Chinese herbs, have already passed the test of mans digestive system.  The record books on Traditional Chinese herbal medicine far exceeds anything Guiness Books can duplicate, Chinese herbs are proven effective sleep aids, energy boosters, immune enhancers, the list goes on.  They don't need science to extract their individual active components and marry them off to a vitamin supplement or other extracted ingredient.  They have already been proven effective, no need for science to tell us which individual active ingredient works best with another. Natural ingredients work best synergistically together as whole foods for the whole body.

Before the microscope and before chemistry could explain which flavonol worked best with which gingerol, Chinese herbal medicine perfected the marriage of combining whole roots, barks, fruits, seeds etc. through thousands of years of use. They learned which plants worked best with each other. Not as a single ingredient extract, because nature never intended for us to use just one small chemical in the apple. Nature provides us the whole apple to eat and enjoy as a whole. When we piece meal the phyto-nutrients from the juice or the skin, we no longer have what nature intended.  How can our bodies possibly know what to do with a single chemical when it's spent millions of years eating it whole.

The message here is easy, when your looking for a natural sleep aid, energy drink or hot flash natural treatment, look for ALL natural ingredients that contain plant names.. not chemical names.

Bamboo’s Anti-Oxidants – Herbal Medicine in Asia

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I just finished reading the most interesting article called “Bamboo as Medicine” By Subhuti Dharmananda, Ph.D., Director, Institute for Traditional Medicine, Portland, Oregon.  Asia has over 300 species of bamboo (Also known as Zhu Ru) and many different parts of the plants are used in Chinese Medicine.

The leaves are used for fevers, the inside whitish-greenish middle is used for convulsions and vomiting.  Dried sap from the joints of bamboo are used for fevers and  coughs with phlegm and even epilepsy. The stem of small bamboo are used in Japan for  urinary retention and blood in the urine.  Bamboo leaves can also be made into a beer. (I’m not sure that’s medicinal or not.) Most importantly bamboo contains known antioxidants.

This article has excellent comparisons and characteristics on functions of  different bamboo species, something I never learned in school.

There are several species which are specifically for phlegm misting the brain, a term we generally use when referring to someone who would be diagnosed in Allopathic terms as delusional or schizophrenic.    In Ayurvedic and Tibetan medicine bamboo has many uses including as an aphrodisiac.  Since there’s no shortage of bamboo in the world and chemical constituents in bamboo are known antioxidants, seems like a win-win situation to use bamboo as medicine. One more bamboo fun fact.  In ancient China, bamboo was used for writing tablets.  A wonderful Chinese teacher I had in my Masters program for Oriental Medicine, when faced with a difficult student question on conflicting material, he would always answer with “Bamboo Problem” which always got a laugh. The meaning was, some very old bamboo reeds survived with ancient text about Chinese Medicine but some disintegrated and written words were lost forever. So bamboo as medicine is great but there’s a reason we don’t still use bamboo for writing tablets.

For more information you can check out: http://www.itmonline.org/arts/bamboo.htm

Do Raw Foodies Take Chinese Herbs?

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raw foodies love Chinese herbsIf you are eating a raw food diet, should you be drinking cooked Chinese herbs?  This question seems to come up more often as more people are becoming raw foodies?  

 

My answer is always the same, yes, you should use cooked herbs rather than raw.  (All our products have been cooked, or extracted.)

Here's why.

Many of the herbs used in Traditional Chinese medicine are roots which tend to be very fibrous.  Humans don't necessarily have the enzymes to break down all this fiber.  When the herbs are cooked, the medicinal value can be extracted from them and easily absorbed without eating all the fibrous materials.  

Even though plants do have a enzymes,  they are preserved when cooked at a low temperature.  One fairly common enzyme in plants called protease,  it often begins a chain of reactions for breaking down proteins. 
The best known plant protease is papain, from the latex of the papaya tree, Carica papaya,  is used commercially in the manufacture of meat tenderizers.  I  thought this was a fun fact… maybe not.

Back to our topic.   More importantly, the traditional method of using Chinese herbs for thousands of years is through water based extraction.  This encompasses boiling the herbs in a purified water for about an hour and then straining and drinking.  Recent studies show water based extraction preserves the herbal chemical constituents but it is also provides the body with the fastest method of bio-availability for the active constituents.

New technologies in herbal processing allow for capture of essential oils which tend to evaporate fairly quickly when cooking on the stove top. Which is why your kitchen smells like mint in the first 5 minutes of boiling mint leaves.   Using sophisticated equipment preserves all the active ingredients by re-introducing the captured essential oils after cooking is completed.  Our short video explains it all.  Take a look here, it's only 3 minutes.

Great to be a raw foodie, but when it comes to herbs you're better off with a cooked product.

Herbal Gifts From The First Christmas

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best natural remedies for menstrual crampsAs Christmas approaches once again we often hear the story of baby Jesus and the Wise Men who came to present gifts of frankincense and myrrh.   Why would “Wise Men” bring a baby herbs and just what exactly are frankincense and myrrh?

Both of these herbs have been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for over 1600 years and are mentioned in the Book of Exodus.  Both of these tree resins, look like little rocks but are actually the bleeds from trees.   But not just any trees.   Frankincense is the resin of the Boswellia tree, whose roots can grow in solid rock.  The trees are renowned for growing in unforgiving environments and can survive violent storms and harsh conditions.  The tree is “tapped” a similar process to taping maple trees for syrup and the resin bleeds out.  It naturally hardens into small rocks and valued for its healing abilities.  Chinese medicine has used frankincense as an internal tea to move the blood and relieve pain. 

Myrrh is commonly used topically for bed sores, and in Chinese herbal medicine it is paired with frankincense as a pain reliever.  It can be used for menstrual cramps or in the event of an injury such as a sprain, strain or bruise these two together can invigorate the blood, reduce swelling, relieve pain and promote healing, similar to the way we use over the counter pain relievers.  Now you see why these would be a valuable gift for Jesus, or anybody living in ancient times. These natural herbs were the first Christmas gifts and have proven useful throughout the test of time. 

Happy holidays.

Boost Your Immune System with This Herb, Dr. Weil Says

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Astragalus  root, also known as Huang Qi  or astragulus membranaceous has been used for over 2000 years to keep people healthy.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine today we may call it “supplementing your Qi”, either way it’s boosting your immune system to fight off stress and everyday germs.  Add it to boiling water for some tea  and you will have more energy and increase your natural immunities.  Dr. Andrew Weil calls it one of the five supplements he recommends for a healthy immune system.  This herb is also known as an adaptogen.

Astragalus is usually used in combination with other herbs in Chinese herbal medicine.  iI is commonly used to supplement spleen/pancreas and stomach energy.  It is both safe and inexpensive and is commonly found in Asian cooking.   You may even want to add it to homemade chicken soup  for a kick ass immune busting soup. 

If you prefer the more convenient pre-cooked astragalus you can find them here.   Adding a little bit of granules to warm water and drink as a tea or add it to your favorite shake or juicing recipe. Granules are the preferred method throughout Asia simply because they won’t attract bugs like most raw hers do after sitting in your cabinet for a long time and the convenience can’t be beat. Our Astragalus granules are the highest grade available and although we cannot verify certified organic, they are always thoroughly tested for contaminants and as close to organic as is possible.

Quit the Hormones, The Best Herbal Remedy For Night Sweats

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Herbs for menopause night sweatsDid you decided to quit the hormones but still need to find some sanity? The best herbal remedy for night sweats and hot flashes is here. When it comes to night sweats as a result of menopause or perimenopause then the best remedy is one that helps reduce the internal excess heat being produced.  During this changing environment of female hormones levels, night sweats although common, are not at all pretty.    I’ve known many women who actually soak through several pj’s and spend the night throwing the covers on and off.

One of the best herbal remedies for menopausal night sweats is a combination of Chinese herbs called Zhi Bai Di Huang Wan, also known as  Anemarrhena, Phellodendron, and Rehmannia formula.  These herbs working together can relieve many of the annoying and uncomfortable symptoms that accompany hormonal changes including anxiety, depression, headaches and vaginal dryness.   This formula has been used for generations of women who are looking for a natural and safe alternative.  Pac Herbs has made this same formula with a few extra herbs to increase it’s action and it’s now available as a tea.  See it here.

Always be diligent when buying a menopause herbal supplement because much of what is sold often doesn’t even meet the labeled ingredient quantity.

Goji Berries Price Increases, How Much Are the Benefits Worth?

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best herb Goji berries

  • With the price of Goji berries going through the roof, I'm ready to plant my own bushes and grow them myself.  I guess the secret is out on the benefits of this tiny, tart berry.  It has only taken 30 years since modern day researchers discovered this marvelous little Chinese herb that has been used for centuries. 

Here is a list of benefits based on modern research and Traditional Chinese Medicine.

  • Improve brain function

  • Reduces fatigue

  • Has liver protector qualities

  • Enhances vision

  • Energy booster and Immunity booster

  • Increase libido

  • Reduces symptoms of diabetes

  • Reduces menopause night sweats

  • Over 60 studies show goji support healthy heart function

  • Goji have been combined with cancer drugs to reverse cancer growth

 

 

One of the largest scientific studies on lycium fruit, (latin name) reported  that eating 50 grams (slightly less than 2 ounces) of Goji Berry caused an increase in the white blood cell count. There was also an increase of 75 % in antibody immunoglobin A (IgA).

We added a large dose of goji berry to our Menopause Relief Herb Pac. It helped improved the taste while helping with night sweats.  Although it may have some benefit as a natural sleep aid, it has more proven benefit of helping to reduce menopausal night sweats.

Goji berry also reduces DNA damage and protect DNA in animal studies. This is great news for anyone who concerned about aging. Goji berry also protects your liver.

The berries contain a compound called cerebrosides ks and is better at protecting the liver than milk thistle.

Goji berry’s polysaccharides protect testicular cells against damage from free radicals.

Goji berry also protect against Alzheimer’s disease by protecting the neurons in the brain against beta amyloid protein. This deadly protein is associated with Alzheimer’s. This is welcome news since Alzheimer’s is expected to reach epidemic levels in aging baby boomers.

Another study showed the Goji polysaccharides increase the production of interleukin-2. This protein protects against cancer and bacteria.

Goji berry may reduce insulin resistance. Diabetic animals  fed Goji berries for three weeks show reduced weight and improved triglyceride, cholesterol and insulin levels.

In conclusion, Goji berry is immune-enhancing, cytoprotective and anti-tumor, a  true win-win-win combination.

We now have two excellent Goji berriers products, capsules and granule powder.  Our granules can be easily added to a shake or sprinkled on food or dissolved in warm water to drink as a tea. I like to place a little on my tongue and savor the flavor.    Our granules/powder are highly concentrated and one bottle will last at least a month. Capsules are easy to take and convenient. You can find them both in our store, here.    

References:

  1. Tian M and Wang M, Studies on extraction, isolation, and composition of Lycium barbarum polysaccharides, Journal of Traditional Chinese Herb Drugs, 2006 31(19): 1603–1607
  2. Yong Peng, et.al., Quantification of zeaxanthin dipalmitate and total carotenoids in Lycium fruits, 2006 Plant Foods for Human Nutrition, 60(4): 161–164
  3. Trieschmann M, et.al., Changes in macular pigment optical density and serum concentrations of its constituent carotenoids following supplemental lutein and zeaxanthin, Experimental Eye Research 2007; 84(4): 718–728
  4. Rosenthal JM, et.al., Dose-ranging study of lutein supplementation in persons aged 60 years or older, Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science 2006; 47(12): 5227–5233
  5. Wang Qiang, et.al., Determination of polysaccharide contents in Fructus Lycii, Chinese Traditional and Herbal Drugs 1991; 22(2): 67–68
  6. Yu MS, et.al., Characterization of the effects of anti-aging medicine Fructus lycii on beta-amyloid peptide neurotoxicity, International Journal of Molecular Medicine 2007; 20(2): 261–268
  7. Qian JY, Liu D, and Huang AG, The efficiency of flavonoids in polar extracts of Lycium chinense Mill fruits as free radical scavenger, Food Chemistry 2004; 87(2): 283–288
  8. Cheng CY, et.al., Fasting plasma zeaxanthin response to Fructus barbarum in a food-based human supplementation trial, British Journal of Nutrition 2005; 93(1): 123–130
  9. Chang RC and So KF, Use of Anti-aging Herbal Medicine, Lycium barbarum, Against Aging-  associated Diseases, Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology 2007

Sleep Aids Valerian and Hops Check Dosage

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Natural Sleep aids with Chinese herbsIf you are looking for a natural sleep aid to help you stay horizontal through-out the night, we've got news for you.  The traditional herbs used in the West for help sleeping are valerian and hops. Maybe you've heard of them.   In one of the most thoroughly conducted research studies on these herbs, it was discovered  these herbs only work when extracted together.  

These top researchers in Switzerland conducted a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled study to demonstrate the fixed combination of chemical constituents from the plants.  What the researchers found is that only when these two herbs are used in a fixed combination at 500 milligrams valerian extract siccum to 120 milligrams hops extract siccum,  did they reduce sleep latency.  The valerian extract alone was no better than a placebo.  Always check product dosages for the best results.

Traditional Chinese Medicine has a long history of using herbs together.  When using Chinese herbs as an over-the-counter sleep aid, either mixed at a Chinese pharmacy or in prepackaged packets like our iSleep Herb Pac, it is most common to have herbs combined together to create a synergistic action that is much more effective than any one herb working alone.  Chinese herbs are always used in combination formulas for the very same reason this study demonstrates.  They simply work better, together.  Studies can prove this, but it is really history of over a thousand years of using herbs cooked together which has provided this knowledge.  

 

For more info on this study:

Koetter U, Schrader E, Kaufeler R. et al. A randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled, prospective clinical study to demonstrate clinical efficacy of a fixed valerian hops extract combination (Ze 91019) in patients suffering from non-organic sleep disorder. Phytother Res. 2007 May 8.