Anxiety

Before the advent of pharmaceutical tranquilisers, Skullcap was the go to herb for the relief of anxiety and nervous tension. As one excerpt from an old herbal encyclopaedia puts it, “Skullcap is one of the finest nervines and antispasmodics given to humanity. It should be on every physician’s shelf”.

Studies have since shown it exhibits “anxiolytic activity” in animals and humans – meaning it inhibits anxiety. Herbalist Richard Whelan has noticed in his own clinical use of Skullcap that in strong doses (especially with the tea), it has quite a strikingly calming effect on agitated individuals.

A 2003 double blind study shows Skullcap offers significant anti-anxiety benefits for healthy individuals.

Insomnia

One of the great benefits of Skullcap is for insomnia and sleep disorders. While many remedies, both traditional and herbal, can lull you to sleep like skullcap, most leave you groggy in the morning. Skullcap promotes sound sleep without the unwanted side effects, leaving you feeling refreshed and revitalised in the morning.

Withdrawal

Skullcap is a key herb to soothe the symptoms of drug and alcohol withdrawal. It eases the physical symptoms of withdrawal like muscle aches, shakiness, twitches, digestive distress, agitation, and poor quality sleep (all common signs of a hyper nervous system and muscle function in withdrawal).

With the ability to calm overactive stress responses and relax the mind and body, Skullcap acts as a mild sedative, making it an extremely useful herb for people quitting alcohol or benzodiazepine drugs (tranquilizers). Once the crisis stage is over, Skullcap can even decrease cravings for addictive substances.

Menstruation

An excellent women’s herb, Skullcap contains large amounts of flavonoids, including scutellarin and baicalin, which are believed to be the active components accounting for its sedative and antispasmodic activity. This antispasmodic activity make it an extremely effective herb for menstrual cramps and it calming action aids PMT symptoms. It has also been used traditionally for centuries to stimulate menstrual bleeding, however more research is needed to verify this claim.