Skullcap herb reorganizes the sleep cycle.
I recently read an article on Cort Johnson's blog that talks about the supplements that @
tandrsc has found useful. Tandrsc discovered that
skullcap herb had a profound effect on her sleep patterns:
"
Skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora) turned out to be something of a miracle supplement for her. She’s had hypersomnia – the need for a lot of sleep – her entire life. Ten hours of sleep made her somewhat functional when she was better, but she was up to 12-15 hours a night as she declined. Her ability, after a few days of taking skullcap ( what a wonderful name ) to sleep a normal 8-9 hours left her, she said, in a state of shock. Even months later she said she could hardly believe this lifelong issue has been resolved with an herb…"
Source:
here.
Tandrsc takes skullcap 5 times a day as a tea:
"I make a tea with 2 level teaspoons of dried herb to 250ml water, let it steep until it's cool, strain and put in the fridge. This is typically enough for nearly 2 days. I take it after each meal, mid morning, mid afternoon and about an hour before bed. I've recently added the mid morning dose, and each dose is now 25ml (using a measuring cup). You can put it in any drink you like, I usually put mine in a mug of tea these days."
I was curious about what might be in skullcap that can so powerfully alters sleep patterns, so I did some investigation. It turns out that one of the main components of skullcap,
baicalin, modulates the sleep cycle — see this study:
Biphasic effects of baicalin, an active constituent of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi, in the spontaneous sleep-wake regulation.
So this makes we wonder whether skullcap herb might be generally useful for the sleep problems of ME/CFS, which include: hypersomnia, insomnia and circadian rhythm disruptions.