Management of Insomnia in Traditional Persian Medicine

Abstract

Insomnia is a sleep disorder which affects 10-48% of general population. Different measures, such as pharmacotherapy and behavioral management, are applied for insomnia and associated complaints. In traditional medical systems, herbal medicines are considered beneficial. Therefore, the present paper compiles pharmacological and medical insights into the management of insomnia according to Traditional Persian Medicine. Herein, preserved medical and pharmaceutical manuscripts of Persian medicine from 10th to 18th century A.D. were investigated for information about concepts of insomnia treatment and herbal remedies. Additionally, for all herbal remedies, an extensive search of scientific databases, such as MEDLINE and Scopus, has been performed to find related works concerning hypnotic, sedative, and anxiolytic as well as narcoleptic effects. Insomnia (generally called Sahar in Persian manuscripts) is a well-known disorder. Herbal medical intervention was the major treatment prescribed by Iranian physicians. Totally, 36 medicinal herbs related to 25 plant families are derived from the searched literature. These remedies were applied orally, topically, and nasally. Based on scientific data, 50% of reported herbs have relevant pharmacological effects. Besides historical elucidation, this paper presents medical and pharmacological approaches that had been applied by Persian practitioners in order to deal with sleep complications. Considering the fruitful results of these findings, this essay should encourage researchers to conduct more investigations in this field in order to understand the mechanisms and effects of traditionally applied herbs still unknown to modern medicine.

Insomnija u tradicionalnoj Perzijskoj medicini

“…It is to be mentioned that in addition to pharmacotherapy, massage therapy is also applied in TPM (usually accompanied by anointment) for management of insomnia [20]. This usually includes foot massage which has a stress reduction effect, too.…”

Review of clinical studies of Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. and its isolated bioactive compounds

“…[9091] Different measures, such as pharmacotherapy and behavioral management, are applied for insomnia and associated complaints. [92] Current insomnia pharmacotherapeutic agents mainly target the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) receptor, melatonin receptor, histamine receptor, orexin, and serotonin receptor. GABA receptor modulators are ordinarily used to manage insomnia, but they are known to affect sleep maintenance, including residual effects, tolerance, and dependence.…”

Aloysia citriodora Palau (lemon verbena) for insomnia patients: A randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled clinical trial of efficacy and safety

“…It should be noted that treatments that have been used over centuries may provide a significant pathway for clinical research (Hashempur, Khademi, Rahmanifard, & Zarshenas, ; Petramfar, Zarshenas, Moein, & Mohagheghzadeh, ). Specifically, an analysis by the National Health Administration of the United States found that 4.5% of adults in the United States used complementary and alternative medicine for the treatment of insomnia and their sleeping problems over the past 12 months (Lin et al, ).…”