Lemon Balm

Herb-Of-The-Week - Lemon Balm No Longer Just An Insect
Repellent.


A lot of us have heard that an effective way to keep biting insects
away. Crush and rub fresh leaves of lemon balm, pennyroyal, or basil
on your skin.


But now, new research points to LEMON BALM as a memory enhancer. This
is EXTREMELY important in this era of mental exhaustion associated
with having to remember so much. We are overwhelmed with pin numbers,
passwords and access codes. Sometimes memory can be negatively
affected by depression, anxiety and/or attention deficit disorder. Not
to mention Alzheimer's, liver disorders and the list goes on.


There are lots of nutritional regimes that improve memory. One that
immediately comes to mind are fatty acids. Omega -3 fatty acids. The
kind of fatty acids found in flaxseed oil and fish oil. This is why
fish is known as brain food. Lecithin is an oil that your body
converts to choline, a chemical that is vital in the optimal
functioning of your brain. Cutting down on the refined foods (i.e.
refined white sugar, refined white flour, food additives etc) has be
demonstrated to significantly improve memory.

But now we have a new use for an old herb... LEMON BALM. Some people
call it Melissa ((Melissa officinalis) .

According to http://cognews.com/ (a website about brain research):

"...The sweet smell of lemon balm may soothe the mind, according to
studies conducted at the Medicinal Plant Research Centre at the
University of Newcastle Upon Tyne in Great Britain. Scientists used
extracts of lemon balm and sage, also from the mint family, to boost
memory performance in young adults. The tests showed that it increased
the same brain neurochemical, acetylcholine, that is diminished in
Alzheimer's disease..."


Presenting their research at a recent meeting of the British
Pyschological Society, the researchers from Northumbria University
said that high doses of Melissa officinalis (lemon balm) improved
memory and led to greater feelings of calmness in 20 volunteers.


Dr Andrew Scholey and Dr David Kennedy, from Northumbria University,
made capsules of dried lemon balm grown locally and gave them to a
group of 20 volunteers. They then carried out memory tests one, three
and six hours later. There was no effect on working memory - the
constant recall of continual events during the day. But secondary
memory, the ability to learn, store and retrieve information, was
improved.
The findings were presented to presented to the British Psychological
Society's annual conference in Bournemouth


Dr Scholey said it was too early to say whether lemon balm might help
Alzheimer's sufferers, but said: "It may help conditions where the
memory is fragile."


In conclusion... if your memory is anything like mine.... (a bad case
of CRS) it might be worth a try.