Why does passion flower work

Home Health Information Passionflower. Common Names: passionflower, maypop, apricot vine, maracuja, water lemon. Latin Names: Passiflora incarnata. Passionflower is a climbing vine that is native to the southeastern United States and Central and South America. Native peoples of the Americas used passionflower as a sedative.

Sixteenth-century Spanish explorers in South America learned of passionflower. The plant was then brought to Europe, where it became widely cultivated and was introduced to European folk medicine.

Today, passionflower is promoted as a dietary supplement for anxiety and sleep problems, as well as for pain, heart rhythm problems, menopausal symptoms, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. It is applied to the skin for burns and to treat hemorrhoids.

How Much Do We Know? What Have We Learned? However, this is not the case. In reality, sleep is an active period during which important processing, restoration and strengthening occurs. One of the most important roles of sleep is to help us consolidate memories. Each day we acquire new information and experiences. These need to be processed and stored. Memories are transferred from our short term memory to our long-term memory. Much of this is done while we sleep.

Sleep also helps us to be more alert, present and feel better overall. Sleep restores and rejuvenates our bodies. Sleep is needed to grow muscle, repair tissue and synthesize hormones. Sleep is essential to help us function physically, mentally and emotionally. Yet, many of us struggle to get a restful sleep. Insomnia and sleep disorders are extremely common in North America. Symptoms of sleep disorders and insomnia may include:. While symptoms can be debilitating, there are many medications and sleep aids to help sleep disturbances or insomnia.

Two popular sleep aids available over-the-counter include passionflower passiflora incarnata and melatonin. Passiflora is a beautiful fast-growing perennial flower native to the Americas. Passion flower is part of the passifloraceae species and the flowers grow on a vine. Commonly known as maypop, Passiflora incarnata blooms in hundreds of varieties and the vine is considered invasive in some regions.

The maypop is a member of the passionflower genus Passiflora. The flowers are cultivated not only for its beauty, but Passion flower is traditionally used in herbal medicine for its medicinal purposes. The Passiflora incarnata species is different from most flowers you may come across. The flower has five petals that are a bluish-purple-white. Health Canada indicates the use of passion flower as a herbal sleep aid. The British Herbal Compendium recognizes the use passion flower for sleeping disorders, restlessness, nervous stress and anxiety.

The German Commission E approves passionflower use for nervous restlessness. As a sleep aid, the herb is available as a herbal tablet or passion flower tea. Some kinds of passionfruit are edible.

The above-ground parts flowers, leaves, and stems of the passionflower are used for medicinal purposes. Pediatric No studies have examined the effects of passionflower in children, so DO NOT give passionflower to a child without a doctor's supervision. Adjust the recommended adult dose to account for the child's weight.

The use of herbs is a time-honored approach to strengthening the body and treating disease. Herbs, however, can trigger side effects and can interact with other herbs, supplements, or medications. For these reasons, you should take herbs with care, under the supervision of a health care provider.

For others, passionflower is generally considered to be safe and nontoxic in recommended doses and for less than 2 months at a time. Because of its calming effect, passionflower may make the effects of sedative medications stronger. These medications include:. Passionflower may increase the amount of time blood needs to clot, so it could make the effects of blood-thinning medications stronger and increase your risk of bleeding.

Blood-thinning drugs include:. MAO inhibitors are an older class of antidepressants that are not often prescribed now. Theoretically, passionflower might increase the effects of MAOIs, as well as their side effects, which can be dangerous. These drugs include:. Passionflower in the treatment of generalized anxiety: a pilot double-blind randomized controlled trial with oxazepam. J Clin Pharm Ther. Akhondzadeh S. Traditionally, scientists believed that GABA could not cross the blood-brain barrier, but some studies have had contradictory results.

In general, there is good evidence to suggest that P. Several clinical studies show that passionflower has anxiety-calming anxiolytic effects. In one clinical trial , researchers found that P. Two other clinical trials in animal models found that it had sedative effects.

A clinical trial found that passionflower decreased anxiety and improved memory in rats. These effects could be due to P. One review found it to have a significant sedative and calming effect. Other researchers recommend it as an add-on to traditional anxiety treatments. Some evidence indicates that passionflower helps people sleep. Research from in mice suggests that P. One study in rats found that P. Another animal study found that passionflower reduced the time it took to fall asleep and increased the duration of sleep.

Determining the effectiveness and identifying side effects in humans will require further research. In one study, participants experienced a significant reduction in symptoms, including headache , depression , insomnia, and anger, compared to a control group, after taking P.

Results of a study from indicate that taking pasipay, a mixture including P.