If you've ever been to the Southeastern region of the United States or Central or South America, then you've probably noticed a unique-looking flower growing on a vine or longer stem. Even if you weren't able to identify a passionflower, you've most likely stumbled upon one at least once in your life without knowing it. There are almost 500 identifiable species of the flower, after all. As with many flowers, the passionflower has been used medicinally in the past for a number of health conditions.
Let’s take a look at the 5 health benefits of passionflower.
Passionflower For An Upset Stomach
Have you ever had nights where you’re unable to sleep because of an upset stomach? Whether you’re suffering from a stomach ulcer or have general indigestion, the antioxidants found in passionflower have been shown to relieve stomach pain.
Passionflower For The Mind
Passionflower is calming, but it can also help improve concentration. One of the obvious ways passionflower helps one stay focused is by calming an overactive mind. When the mind is overactive and wanders, it affects your cognitive performance. Imagine trying to sit down and study or work, only to be distracted by every little thing.
Taking passionflower for someone with ADHD can help alleviate some of the mental condition symptoms such as difficulty multitasking, excessive restlessness, and problems focusing.
Passionflower For Anxiety
Anxiety can be a debilitating issue that can raise blood pressure, cause more stress, and lead to depression. Anxiety also often goes hand-in-hand with nervous disorders. When we are having an anxiety episode, we often think about taking addicting medications like a benzodiazepine.
Unfortunately, these medications have unwanted side effects that could make anxiety worse. However, passionflowers have enough of a sedative effect to help calm the nervous system and reduce anxiety with no side effects compared to conventional medications.
Passionflower To Lower Blood Pressure
High blood pressure is very prevalent in our society, but it's one of the most preventable diseases. Everything from a poor diet to smoking can cause high blood pressure. Not getting enough exercise, consuming foods high in sodium, and not getting enough potassium can cause high blood pressure as well.
It's possible to prevent high blood pressure with certain lifestyle changes. Getting plenty of exercises a week, eating healthier, and taking passionflower all help lower systolic blood pressure.
Passionflower For Insomnia
Finally, insomnia is as prevalent in our society as high blood pressure. Not enough people are getting the recommended amount of sleep a night, leading to some serious health issues. High blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, obesity, neurological problems, and much more are all linked to insomnia.
What's worse is, many of these issues also cause insomnia, so it's a brutal cycle of causing insomnia and being caused by insomnia. Sleep is one of the most important processes our bodies need to stay healthy. When we lay our heads to sleep, our brains need time to develop new neurons to protect themselves, and the rest of the body goes into a maintenance mode. That's why when people somehow get to sleep after being in pain, they wake up feeling better.
However, when the body isn't getting enough sleep, then it could cause some neurological issues that worsen anxiety and stress. That's why passionflower is great for insomnia. Not only does passionflower reduce anxiety and racing thoughts before bedtime, but it can help improve the quality of sleep. Normally, when people have racing thoughts before bed, it wakes them up in the middle of the night, disturbing a healthy sleep schedule.
When looking for a product that contains passionflower, make sure you’re looking for one that is organic and contains no GMOs or artificial flavors.
References
Strasser, Marc et al. “Antiulcerogenic potential activity of free and nanoencapsulated Passiflora serratodigitata L. extracts.” BioMed research international vol. 2014 (2014): 434067. doi:10.1155/2014/434067. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4122002/pdf/BMRI2014-434067.pdf
Vago, David R, and Fadel Zeidan. “The brain on silent: mind wandering, mindful awareness, and states of mental tranquility.” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences vol. 1373,1 (2016): 96-113. doi:10.1111/nyas.13171. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5866730/pdf/nihms950519.pdf
Krenn, Liselotte. “Die Passionsblume (Passiflora incarnata L.)--ein bewährtes pflanzliches Sedativum” [Passion Flower (Passiflora incarnata L.)--a reliable herbal sedative]. Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift (1946) vol. 152,15-16 (2002): 404-6. doi:10.1046/j.1563-258x.2002.02062.x
Ichimura, Toshiaki et al. “Antihypertensive effect of an extract of Passiflora edulis rind in spontaneously hypertensive rats.” Bioscience, biotechnology, and biochemistry vol. 70,3 (2006): 718-21. doi:10.1271/bbb.70.718. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1271/bbb.70.718?needAccess=true
Guerrero, Fructuoso Ayala, and Graciela Mexicano Medina. “Effect of a medicinal plant (Passiflora incarnata L) on sleep.” Sleep science (Sao Paulo, Brazil) vol. 10,3 (2017): 96-100. doi:10.5935/1984-0063.20170018. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5699852/pdf/ssci-10-03-0096.pdf