J Altern Complement Med. 2018 May 9. doi: 10.1089/acm.2017.0153. [Epub ahead of print]
Ranjbar M1,2, Salehi A2, Rezaeizadeh H3, Zarshenas MM4,5, Sadeghniiat-Haghighi K6, Mirabzadeh M7, Firoozabadi A2,8.

Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Insomnia is a prevalent sleep disorder that has not been well managed thus far. There are numerous medicaments for treatment of insomnia, but they have undesirable side effects that make herbal medicine a more viable option.

OBJECTIVES:
The effectiveness of a combination of Melissa officinalis L. (dry powder) and Nepeta menthoides Boiss. & Buhse (freeze-dried aqueous extract) on insomnia was evaluated.

DESIGN AND SETTING:
Insomniacs who met the entry criteria participated in a triple-blind randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial at the Persian Medicine (PM) clinic in Tehran.

INTERVENTIONS:
The subjects received either 1000 mg of M. officinalis plus 400 mg N. menthoides or a placebo nightly for four weeks in accordance with prescriptions from the pharmaceutical manuscripts on PM and the results of previous studies.

OUTCOME MEASURES:
The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), sleep diary, and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) were used for assessment of insomnia.

RESULTS:
Comparison of the treatment and placebo groups showed a significant decrease in the mean difference of ISI (4.97 ± 4.69 vs. 1.60 ± 3.70; p =; 0.002) and total PSQI (4.14 ± 3.69 vs. 1.42 ± 2.81; p = 0.001) scores in the treatment group. A significant increase was also observed in total sleep time of treatment group (p < 0.001) based on the sleep diary.

CONCLUSIONS:
A combination of M. officinalis and N. menthoides Boiss. & Buhse could be an alternative sleep improvement therapy.

KEYWORDS:
Melissa officinalis; Nepeta menthoides; Persian Medicine; herbal medicine; insomnia; traditional medicine