Uso de plantas medicinais e medicamentos fitoterápicos em insônia: uma revisão bibliográfica

Abstract

Insomnia is characterized by non-restorative sleep, insufficient to maintain a good quality of alertness and physical and mental well-being during the day. Whether short-term or chronic, it is something that affects a large portion of the population. The treatment of insomnia can be diversified and there is great interest from patients in the use of medicinal plants, with the erroneous assertion that what is natural is not harmful. This work aims to list the main medicinal plants used by the Brazilian population for insomnia treatment, analyzing their effectiveness, safety and highlighting their rational use. A narrative literature review was carried out on the main medicinal plants used with sedative action in Brazil. Twenty-five references available in different open access databases and textbooks were selected. As a result, it was observed that the most cited medicinal plants for use in the treatment of insomnia were lemongrass, passionflower, valerian, lavender and hops. Among the plants with greater safety were chamomile, basil, mint and lavender; and others such as hypericum and kava-kava should be used with greater caution due to drug interactions, adverse reactions and reports of toxicity. This highlights the use of medicinal plants for the treatment of insomnia in the Brazilian population and, the need to provide adequate guidelines for the use of these products.