Herbs and melatonin don’t help everyone fall asleep
Many insomniacs resort to various herbs such as medicinal valerian (Valeriana), lion’s tail (Leonurus), lemon balm, mint, and others, or melatonin-containing preparations, to relieve insomnia.
Professor Roman Bozunov, a sleep specialist, says we need to know that there are different factors that cause insomnia. Some suffer from insomnia due to stress at work, others due to long flights. Therefore, it is first necessary to identify the cause of insomnia, and then it is easy to treat.
He adds that current medications containing the hormone melatonin are only effective for severe insomnia and jet lag.
He says: “In such cases, a melatonin tablet can be taken an hour before bedtime. This pill makes the brain feel like it’s time for sleep.”
And he adds, people over 55 can also take melatonin pills because their levels of the sleep hormone are low. As for the herbs mentioned above, they do not have a hypnotic effect at all.
And he says: “Yes, maybe the herbal infusion has a placebo effect and the person falls asleep quickly, because he believes that this herb helps to fall asleep.”
According to him, herbal preparations can be effective for long-term stress, if used for 2-4 weeks on a regular basis, then the nervous system becomes more stable, which leads to better sleep quality.
Source: News. RU