Herbs have been evidenced to confer significant protection from mental health disorders including anxiety. Plants contain phytochemicals that act on the central nervous system through various mechanisms, and these mechanisms differ between plants because the phytochemicals are able to affect different neuronal pathways within the brain. Combinations of herbs may prove to be more efficient than single herbs because their effects may be synergistic. Studies have investigated the effects of herbal combination in animal models of anxiety. For example in one study Crataegus Pinnatifida, Triticum Aestivum, Lilium Brownie and Fructus Zizyphi Jujubae were administered in combination to mice exposed to experimental stress. The herbal combination reduced anxious behaviour in the mice and lowered blood corticosterone (stress hormone) levels. In addition, there was a neuroprotective effect in the hippocampus of the brain as determined by an increase in the levels of brain derived neurotrophic factor.
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