It is estimated that about 9～15% of the people in the world suffer from insomnia which causes severe after effects in the day time. Insomnia is a prevalent health concern in the general population, which could induce significant physical disorders. The most common sleep disorder is a subjective complaint that it has an inability to initiate or maintain sleep, or the sleep is non-restorative with poor quality and quantity.
It has been observed that people who suffer from anxiety often accompanied with sleep disorder. The study of anxiety has developed into a key area of psychopharmacological research during this decade. Worldwide, one in five people meet with clinical criteria of anxiety disorder at least once in their lives. In fact, in humans, it is a common emotion intimately associated with proper fear and probably functions as a mechanism to adapt the environment psychologically. Anxiety is another common symptom of many psychiatric disorders in the community and other medical disorders. From the 1960s onwards, depression has been diagnosed as “major depression” which comprised of numerous symptoms including anxiety and insomnia according to the criteria established in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. In the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010, MDD was considered to be the major contributer to the incidence of suicide and ischemic heart disease and it was ranked the second leading cause of disability worldwide. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), major depressive disorders (MDD) will account for the second major illness in the world by the year 2020. As one of the most prevalent forms of mental illness, depressive disorders have a huge influence on individuals and society. In modern society, people suffer from various psychiatric disorders, especially depression, anxiety and insomnia. This review has been performed to further identify modes of action of different herbal medicine, and thus provides useful information for the application of herbal medicine. Nonetheless, a systematic review on herbal pharmacology in depression, anxiety and insomnia is still lacking. Literatures showed a variety of herbal mechanisms of action used for the therapy of depression, anxiety and insomnia, involving re-uptake of monoamines, affecting neuroreceptor binding and channel transporter activity, modulating neuronal communication or hypothalamic-pituitary adrenal axis (HPA) etc.
Over the past decades, the exploration in the area of herbal psychopharmacology has received much attention. Since various adverse events of western medication exist, the number of people who use herbs to benefit their health is increasing. Herb alone, as well as herbal formula, is commonly prescribed for the therapies of mental illnesses. These well-known forms of psychiatric disorders have been affecting many people from all around the world. The prevalence and comorbidity of psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety and insomnia are very common.
0 kommentar(er)
