Gotukola & Stress
Gotu Kola and Stress
People with stress-related disorders like anxiety and panic attacks are believed to have an overactive startle response. Scientists theorize that compounds in gotu kola known as triter-pene acids bind to receptors in your central nervous system and reduce your startle response.
Gotu kola strengthens the collagen lining of your vein walls, enhances circulation, and reduces inflammation to treat varicose veins. Practitioners believe gotu kola improves memory by boosting circulation to the brain.
The herb's ability to improve vein health is well supported by human studies. Research on gotu kola for anxiety and memory is limited. In the only controlled clinical trial on gotu kola and anxiety, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology in 2000, scientists gave 40 healthy adults either a very high onetime dose of 12 g of gotu kola or a placebo. Then they measured the subjects' startle responses with loud bursts of noise. After 60 minutes, the gotu kola group displayed less than half the startle response of the control group.
A series of studies published in the International Journal of Angiology last October tested gotu kola's ability to improve vascular health. In one study, researchers gave 40 patients with venous hypertension (thought to be a precursor to varicose veins) either a placebo or 120 mg of gotu kola daily. After six weeks, the patients who took the herb experienced a significant reduction in leg swelling, and most of their leg veins were able to constrict blood flow properly.
In a seperate study, rodents were fed three herbs,gotukola among them. Fatigue and stress situations were set up. One involved swimming in a bucket of cold water, and another was to jump a barrier in order to avoid a mild foot shock. Within 24 hours of administration of the three herbs, the animals could successfully clear the barrier after being dried off from the cold water treatment. Without the herbs, they required up to 72 hours to recuperate in order to jump the barrier. It was concluded that a combination of capsicum, ginseng and gotu kola did have a beneficial effect on behaviour of stressed or fatigued animals whose metabolism are similar in many respects to that of man.