HANG-OVER and Sleep Quality

Melissa Officinalis L.: A Natural Ally in Treating Anxiety Disorders and Insomnia

 Discover one of Hang-over's flagship ingredients:

Melissa officinalis L., part of a family of more than 20,000 plant species, has been used in various traditional medicines around the world. [1]

This plant is traditionally used against mental and CNS disorders, cardiovascular and respiratory problems, various cancers, as well as a memory stimulant, cardiac tonic, antidepressant, sleep aid and antidote. [2,3,4,5,6,7]

Phytochemical research on M. officinalis has revealed the presence of various phytochemical compounds, including terpenes such as rosmarinic acid (mono-terpenes, sesquiterpenes and triterpenes) and phenolic compounds (phenolic acids, flavonoids and tannins). [8,9]

The main active constituents of M. officinalis are volatile compounds (for example, geranial, neral, citronellal and geraniol), triterpenes (for example, ursolic acid and folic acid) and phenolic compounds (for example, the cis and trans isomers of RA, caffeic acid derivatives, luteolin, naringin and hesperidin) [10,11,12]

Its role

The results of a prospective open pilot study (in stressed volunteers with mild to moderate anxiety disorders and sleep disturbances) showed that oral administration of Cyracos (a patented standardised extract of M. officinalis leaves containing more than 7% RA and 15% hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives) at a dose of 600mg/day for 15 days significantly reduced anxiety symptoms by 18%, improved anxiety-related symptoms by 15%, and reduced insomnia by 42%. [13]

These results show that lemon balm is a valuable ingredient for managing hangovers.