title: Phytotherapy against insomnia: extravagant claims or an alternative medicine?
abstract: Insomnia or sleeplessness is a disorder characterized by a personal incapability to falling or staying asleep for a desirable period of time. Apart from Valeriana officinalis and Ziziphus jujuba most of the ethnobotanicals used for sleep disorders have not been evaluated for pharmacological or clinical efficacy against insomnia. Chinese herbal medicines involving polyherbal formulations are yet to be characterized and long-term side effects are yet to be evaluated. Anti insomniac phytotherapy opens up an exciting aspect of research which might benefit a large number of patients suffering from different degrees of insomnia.
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany, Presidency University, 86/1, College Street, Kolkata-700073, West Bengal, India.
authors.forename: Abhijit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dey
authors.forename: Amrita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dey
mesh_terms: D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D019448:Ethnobotany; D006801:Humans; D008517:Phytotherapy / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012890:Sleep / Q000187:drug effects; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D014632:Valerian / Q000737:chemistry; D031957:Ziziphus / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D010936:Plant Extracts