Feizi Faezeh, Namazi Nazli, Rahimi Roja, Ayati Mohammad Hossein
School of Pharmacy, Islamic Azad Medical University, Tehran, Iran.
Obesity and Eating Habits Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Molecular- Cellular Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Galen Med J. 2019 Jan 1;8:e1085. doi: 10.31661/gmj.v8i0.1085. eCollection 2019.
Insomnia is one of the most troubling sleep disorders and can be characterized by an inability to fall asleep and/or inadequate sleep duration and/or waking up multiple times during the night. Herbal medicine has been used to treat a range of sleep disorders for centuries. This study aimed to review medicinal plants investigated experimentally or clinically for sleep disorders, as well as their potential mechanisms of action and active components. Electronic databases and literature were systematically investigated to assess all in vitro and in vivo trials and clinical evidence of the efficacy and potential mechanisms of actions playing major roles in sleep induction or insomnia treatment. Among many herbal studies and trials on insomnia, some showed no significant difference between herbal remedies and placebos. While others showed improvements in sleep parameters (sleep latency, total sleep, non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep duration, delta activity in NREM sleep, wakefulness anxiety-associated insomnia). In this study, in vitro, animal, and clinical studies investigating a variety of herbal treatments for insomnia were systematically reviewed. The mechanisms of action of herbal medicines in treating insomnia are mainly related to gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-synthesizing and GABA-metabolizing enzymes that influenced sleep outcomes. Overall, herbal remedies were not associated with more benefits than nonbenzodiazepines, although side effects were less. The results suggest that herbs have some benefits in improving the quantity and quality of sleep and could be a promising alternative therapy.
失眠是最令人困扰的睡眠障碍之一，其特征可能是难以入睡、睡眠时长不足和/或夜间多次醒来。几个世纪以来，草药一直被用于治疗一系列睡眠障碍。本研究旨在综述经实验或临床研究用于治疗睡眠障碍的药用植物，以及它们潜在的作用机制和活性成分。我们系统地检索了电子数据库和文献，以评估所有体外和体内试验以及在诱导睡眠或治疗失眠中起主要作用的疗效和潜在作用机制的临床证据。在众多关于失眠的草药研究和试验中，一些研究表明草药疗法与安慰剂之间没有显著差异。而其他一些研究则显示睡眠参数有所改善（睡眠潜伏期、总睡眠时间、非快速眼动（NREM）和快速眼动（REM）睡眠时间、NREM睡眠中的δ活动、与清醒焦虑相关的失眠）。在本研究中，我们系统地综述了研究各种草药治疗失眠的体外、动物和临床研究。草药治疗失眠的作用机制主要与影响睡眠结果的γ-氨基丁酸（GABA）合成酶和GABA代谢酶有关。总体而言，草药疗法与非苯二氮䓬类药物相比并没有更多益处，不过副作用较少。结果表明，草药在改善睡眠数量和质量方面有一些益处，可能是一种有前景的替代疗法。
