Sleep disorders are common in the general population and may be associated with considerable economic costs as well as psychological and social disruption, and reduced wellbeing.1–4 The conventional definition of a sleep disorder and the one this article will adopt, is any disturbance of a person's normal pattern of sleep that affects their ability to function.5 Primary insomnia is the most common of the sleep disorders;5 it may be acute or chronic6 and is characterised by difficulty falling or staying, asleep; nocturnal awakenings; early morning awakenings; nonrefreshing sleep; or a combination of these symptoms.7 It is more prevalent in females and in older people.7 For the purpose of this review, a sleep disorder will include any subjective complaint of sleep due to primary insomnia, as defined above.
To evaluate the efficacy of valerian and hops in the treatment of
The AMED and MEDLINE databases were searched for primary sources
of literature published between 1950 and 2009, using keywords: herbal
medicine, medicinal plants, herbal, Valeriana officinalis, valerian,
Humulus lupulus, hops, sleep, insomnia.
Studies were included if they evaluated the efficacy of valerian or
hops in improving primary insomnia in adults: sixteen studies met the
inclusion criteria. Twelve of these found that the use of valerian, on its
own, or in combination with hops, is associated with improvements in
some sleep parameters (eg. sleep latency and quality of sleep). However,
these results need to be interpreted cautiously as there were significant
differences in design between the studies.
Further randomised, double blind, placebo controlled trials are needed
before such herbal treatments can be confidently recommended for the
treatment of primary insomnia.
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