Klarinet Archive - Posting 000864.txt from 1997/07

From: "Diane Karius, Ph.D." <dikarius@-----.edu>
Subj: Information on Valerian root
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 1997 12:23:23 -0400

There were several people who wanted more information on valerian
root so I am posting this to the list. Beware - it's long.

The extract of the valerian root is traditionally believed to
be a "sleep aid". Scientific studies on the subject are fairly
consistent (although some of the studies aren't the best that have
ever been conducted)- taking valerian root a few hours before going
to bed consistently improved the subjective measures of sleep
(subjective = the sleeper's impressions of how well they slept, how
easily they fell asleep, etc). In studies which investigated the
objective measures of sleep (EEG monitoring of sleep state,
measurement of time spent in the different stages of sleep, etc..)
the data is a little more mixed - not all measures of sleep quality
showed statistically significant changes from control. No toxic
effects were noted in the short term.
There is some debate as to whether valerian root acts as
a mild to moderate tranquilizer or as an anti-depressant. What
little work has been done into the mechanism of action is consistent
with that of a tranquilizer, although it is not working at the
benzodiazepene site (where valium acts). The experiments that have
been done were not designed to test an anti-depressant action, so the
jury is out on that.
Of the many chemicals in the root, there appear
to be two chemical classes (and I'll spare you the names unless you
really want them) that have a tranquilizing effect. The extract
contains a high content of only one of these (the other has been
found to be cytotoxic, although I don't know how much would have be
ingested in order to be toxic or what the symptoms are). I guess the
lesson here is not to make this yourself unless you really know what
you are doing.
For performance anxiety (stage fright): based on what
I read, I can see where people would find that valerian root would
tend to minimize those symptoms. I don't know whether the
tranquilizing action would be sufficiently strong to interfere with
actual performance. In reviewing the literature on performance
anxiety as it relates to musicians, the current clinical treatment
seems to be (in no particular order): 1) teaching coping skills to
minimize the occurrence of anxiety; 2) dealing with the causes of the
anxiety (could be long-term or short-term depending on person); 3)
low-dose inderal to minimize the physical symptoms of the anxiety.
I have references if people want them - just email me and I'll
send them to you directly. It won't be until tomorrow since I
suffered a neural misfire this morning and forgot to bring them in
with me.
Diane R. Karius, Ph.D.
Department of Physiology
University of Health Sciences
2105 Independence Ave.
Kansas City, MO 64124
email: dikarius@-----.EDU