Liquorice: Helps Sleep

Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) is one of the most frequently used herbal medicines and has neurological properties such as antidepressant, anxiolytic, and anticonvulsant effects.

In this study by Cho et al, liquorice extracts potentiated induced sleep and increased the amount of non-rapid eye movement sleep in an animal model system without decreasing delta activity.

The molecular structure and pharmacophore model of liquorice components glabrol and liquiritigenin indicate that the functioanal groups of may play a key role in binding to GABA(A)-BZD receptors. Glabrol increased sleep duration and decreased sleep latency in a dose-dependent manner.

The results imply that Liquorice and its flavonoid glabrol induce sleep via a positive allosteric modulation of GABA(A)-BZD receptors.