The most useful herbs of Traditional Iranian Medicine prescribed for Insomnia

Insomnia is a highly prevalent condition, and due to ongoing demand from patients suffering with this condition, new pharmacological treatments are actively being sought.¹Insomnia is a well-known disorder in Iranian Traditional Medicine (ITM). Scholars of ITM described insomnia in their manuscripts precisely. According to ITM references, Insomnia is an excess and abnormal form of awakening. Various causes such as bilious temperament, pain, Indigestion, melanotic swelling around the brain and fever will result in insomnia.² Herbal therapy was the major treatment prescribed by Iranian physicians. Six Iranian ancient medical texts i.e. Canon of Medicine (Avicenna 980–1037 AD), Alhavi (Razes 865–925 AD) Tohfat ul-Mo,menin (Mo,men tonekaboni 17th century), Makhzan ul-Advia (Aghili 18thcentury), Ekhtiarat Badi,i (Ansari 1329–1404 AD), and Al-abnia An-Haghyegh el-advia (Heravi 11thcentury) were studied for the treatment of insomnia. Subsequent to our study, the herbal medicines were listed and scored based on the frequency of their prescriptibility. Moreover, the effort has been taken to provide the best scientific name for each plant. This study showed that Papaver somniferum L., Crocus sativus L. and Lactuca sativa L. were the most frequent herbs mentioned in ITM prescriptions and in conclusion they can be introduced as new anti insomnia herbal medicines for clinical researches.

Keywords: Insomnia, Herbal, Traditional Iranian Medicine

References: 1. Richey SM, Krystal AD (2011) Pharmacological Advances in the Treatment of Insomnia. Curr Pharm Des. (in print).

2. Avicenna, Canon of Medicine, (1987) Translated by Sharafkandy A, Soroush pub., Tehran p.110–111.