Relaxie Tea

Relaxie-Tea is a combination of herbs and botanical extracts that help calm your nerves, soothe your mind and alleviate stress. These herbs work toward reducing Cortisol levels and boost neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, to help alter mood, and put your mind in a state of ease and restfulness.

Uses and Indications:

Helps calm you mind and alleviate Stress
Soothes your nerves and reduces Anxiety
Alleviates Depression and Melancholy
Promotes restful sleep and helps regulate sleep cycle
Indicative for Sleep apnea, Insomnia and other sleep related disorders
A pot of Relaxie-tea is apt for serving during Tense situations to promote a
peaceful and tranquil flow of conversation

Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla)

Chamomile is an perenicious, flowering belonging to the Asteraceae family, same as Daisy. Aside from being fragrant and pretty, Chamomile has a host of beneficial effects, and has been used as teas and tinctures since ancient times. It mainly is a calming, relaxing tea, but is also known to help with irritable bowel, tummy upsets, and skin rashes. The most active components of the in chamomile are the terpenoids α-bisabolol and its oxide azulenes including chamazulene and acetylene derivatives.

Chamomile has been used extensively in Ayurveda and in Grecian medicine to treat skin ailments, such as inflammations of the skin and mucous membranes. It is also an effective antibacterial and is prescribed in tinctures for various bacterial infections of the skin, mouth and gums. Chamomile has been valued as a digestive relaxant to treat various gastrointestinal disturbances including flatulence, indigestion, diarrhea, anorexia, motion sickness, nausea, and vomiting, but more frequently used as a mild sedative to calm nerves and reduce anxiety. It has been known to be effective in treating hysteria, insomnia and other sleep related issues. The Native Americans even believed that having a chamomile tea before falling asleep keeps nightmares and ‘bad dreams’ at bay.

Chamomile contains flavonoids, terpenoids and lactones, including matricin and apigenin. The sedative effects of chamomile are mainly attributed to apigenin , which binds to benzodiazepine receptors and potentiates the activity at GABA A receptors, Apigenin also stimulates uptake of tyrosine, resulting in increased monoamine production. It is probable that Apigenin may also be inhibiting the Monoamino-oxidase enzyme, thus tfurther increasing the availability of monoamines. An increase in serotonin may especially be related to its anxiolytic effects.
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References:

Chamomile: A herbal medicine of the past with bright future
Chamomile
Long Term Chamomile Therapy for Anxiety
Chamomile (Matricaria recutita) May Have Antidepressant Activity in Anxious Depressed Humans – An Exploratory Study

Passion Flower (Passiflora incarnata) :

Passion Flower, or Passiflora is a flowering vine, of the family Passifloraceae. They are mostly tendril-bearing vines, and can be woody of herbaceous, but bearing distinctively showy flowers. The flowers are pentamerous, and very very brighty colored, mostly either Blue or Purple in color. These flowers turn into fruiting body upon maturity (Passion Fruit) and are found mostly in tropical regions of Mexico, Central and South America, South East Asia and the United States.

Although, the Passion Flower plant is cultivated more for its fruit and its ornamental value (The flowers are truly remarkable in appearance), the medical/functional benefits of only a few of its genus have been studied. The fresh or dried leaves of maypop (Passiflora) have been used by Native American Shamans to make a tea that is used for insomnia, hysteria, and epilepsy, and is also valued for its analgesic properties. In a study conducted in 2001 for treatment of generalized anxiety disorder, maypop extract performed as well as oxazepam but with fewer short-term side effects.

The Principle constituents in Passion flower are mainly flavonoids and indole alkaloids. Main active ingredients are coumerin, umbelliferone chrysin and vitexin (Spinella, 2001). Chrysin is the most studied component. Chrysin, along with a few other flavonoids, have been shown to bind to benzodiazepine receptors sites. Chrysin supposedly acts as an agonist for GABA activity, especially at the A-type GABA receptors. This seemingly imposes an inhibitory effect on the brain which gives passion flower its calming effect. The psychoactive effects of passion flower can be reversed by benzodiazepine antagonists, as reported in animal studies. The effectiveness of Passiflora extract on neural activity has been compared to that of diazepam (Valium).
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References:

Passion Flower Benefits: It Helps Anxiety and Insomnia, But Without the Side Effects
Effects of Passion Flower Extract, as an Add-On Treatment to Sertraline, on Reaction Time in Patients ‎with Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Study
Nutritional and herbal supplements for anxiety and anxiety-related disorders: systematic review
Passiflora
How to calm anxiety & improve sleep with passion flower

Water Hyssop (Baccopa Monerei)

Baccopa Monerei is a perennial, non aromatic, creeping herb native to the wetlands of southern and Eastern India, Australia and Europe. It thrives in marshy wetlands and is hence prevalently found in Southern India, in the Backwaters of Kerala. Also colloquially known as ‘Bramhi’ it is used extensively in Ayurveda, mainly to treat cognitive, mental, emotional and psychological issues. It is also used in the treatment of Gout, arthritis and epilepsy. The active compounds of Bramhi are dammarane-type triterpenoin saponin Bacoside (A and B) with jujubogenin, alkaloids: brahmine and herpestine.

The most studied components of bramhi are Bacosides. Bacoside A and B are known to improve the signalling between neurons. They also help rebuild damaged neurons, hence helping with building memory. Chronic Stress and Cortisol causes nerve damage, reduces brain functionality and is a prevalent cause of fatigue and tiredness. Not just physically, but mental tiredness causes confusion, leading to further anxiety and lethargy. Ingestion of Baccopa M has also shown to increase levels of neurotransmitter acetocholine, which is indicative of better cognitive functionality and faster synapses.

Bacoppa Monerei shows great promise as a treatment for cognitive disabilities, a nootropic herb for enhancing memory and learning, an anti-stress aide to help combat anxiety, stress and dissonance. Also as it calms the mind and promotes more positive thought, it is mentally rejuvenating.

References:

Bacopa monnieri
Bacopa monnieri as an Antioxidant Therapy to Reduce Oxidative Stress in the Aging Brain
Antistress effects of bacosides of Bacopa monnieri: modulation of Hsp70 expression, superoxide dismutase and cytochrome P450 activity in rat brain
Herbal medicine for depression, anxiety and insomnia: A review of psychopharmacology and clinical evidence
Clinical efficacy of Brahmi Vati: a critical review

Shankapushpi (Convolvulus pluricaulis)

Shankapushpi is a perennial, flowering herb found in India and Burma that is used in Ayurveda, as an antioxilant, brain tonic, and as a medication for anxiety and neurosis.
C. pluricaulis has been used effectively in treating psychological and traumatic stress disorders. The ethanolic and methanolic extracts of the whole plant (including root, stem, leaf and flower extract) has been shown to reduce spontaneous motor activity, potentiate pentobarbitone hypnosis and morphine analgesia, reduce fight or flight response, delineate conditioned avoidance response as well as antagonized convulsive seizures. Pharmacological studies of the herb have shown varying degree of its hypotensive and tranquilizing effects. Ingesting extracts of this plant induces a calm demeanour, promotes restful sleep and helps relieve in anxiety, stress and mental fatigue, producing a significant reduction in levels of anxiety and neuroticism arising due to various levels of stresses.

A lot of studies on the efficacy of Shankapushpi are ‘inconclusive’ due to the lack of understanding of the exact mechanism or pathway of how this herb actually works. According to traditional understanding, it essentially soothes the nerves and hence reduces the level of synaptic activity, thus creating a calmer or less neurotic disposition. Also, there is some aspect of its efficacy that is attributed to its combined effect when administered with other herbs. Most nootropic or anti-anxiety formulations in Ayurveda have Shankhapushpi combined with Bramhi (Baccopa Monerei) and also sometimes Centella Asiatica. What is known however, is that Shakapushpi appears to produce its action by modulation of neuro-chemistry of the brain.

References:

An update on Ayurvedic herb Convolvulus pluricaulis Choisy
Traditional Indian Herbs Convolvulus pluricaulis and Its Medicinal Importance
Convolvulus pluricaulis a nootropic herb with neuropharmacological activity a review
Shankhapushpi Convolvulus pluricaulis Choisy Validation of the Ayurvedic therapeutic claims through contemporary studies

Valerian Rues (Valeriana officinalis):

Valerian is a perennial flowering plant, mainly native to Central Europe, the Mediterranean belt and Asia. During the summer, it bears sweetly scented pink or white flowers. Valerian Rues was revered by the ancient Egyptians as ‘Dream Tea’, since it enhances deep sleep and possibly also Lucid Dreaming, when taken in higher doses.

Crude extract of valerian root may have sedative and anxiolytic effects, and is commonly sold in dietary supplement capsules to promote sleep. Valerian is thought to enhance the signalling of one of the main sedative neurotransmitters, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).

Inducing sleep with Valerian, essentially accelerates REM sleep and triggers the melatonin secretion, which enhances the quality of sleep, perpetuates more vivid dreams, and also provides more restful and rejuvinative sleep. This is why, after ingesting valerian, subjects wake up feeling refreshed even in just 5-7 hours of sleep, since it gives you a complete sleep cycle, by pushing you faster into REM mode.

When taken in smaller doses, valerian produces a mild and tranquil effect. In higher doses it is sleep inducing. The valerian added in relaxie tea is supposed to create a calming effect that complements the other ingredients. Also, with a higher dosage of the relaxie tea (1.5-2.0 gms) the blend can help induce tranquil and restful sleep.

References:

Valerian for Sleep: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Valeriana Officinalis
The Sleep-Enhancing Effect of Valerian Inhalation and Sleep-Shortening Effect of Lemon Inhalation
A comprehensive pharmacognostic report on valerian