The Dream Joint

Calea zacatechichiis a plant used by the Chontal Indians of Mexico to obtain divinatory messages during dreaming. At human doses, organic extracts of the plant produce the EEG and behavioral signs of somnolence and induce light sleep in cats. Large doses elicit salivation, ataxia, retching and occasional vomiting. The effects of the plant upon cingulum discharge frequency were significantly different from hallucinogenic-dissociative drugs (ketamine, quipazine, phencyclidine and SKF-10047). In human healthy volunteers, low doses of the extracts administered in a double-blind design against placebo increased reaction time and time-lapse estimation. A controlled nap sleep study in the same volunteers showed thatCaleaextracts increased the superficial stages of sleep and the number of spontaneous awakenings. The subjective reports of dreams were significantly higher than both placebo and diazepam, indicating an increase in hypnagogic imagery occurring during superficial sleep stages.

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Anecdotal evidence that lucid dreaming might contribute to mental and physical health has been widely reported in the literature. Empirical research, though, is scarce. A brief questionnaire eliciting self-perceived benefits of lucid dreaming on mental and physical health had been completed by 386 participants who had lucid dream experiences. About 90% of the participants reported some benefit of lucid dreams on their waking life including mental and physical health. This benefit was related to higher lucid dream frequency, trait mindfulness, and spirituality. These promising results should encourage researchers to develop a manualized lucid dream therapy and test its effect on physical and mental health in a randomized waiting-list pre-post design. Qualitative research can answer questions regarding the specific mechanisms, i.e., how does lucid dreaming contribute to well-being in waking life in the long run.

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Nuciferine is an aporphine alkaoid first isolated from Nymphae caerulea. It is the main bioactive ingredient. Additionally, it was also obtained from some other plants. Nuciferine exhibited diverse bioactivities such as anti-hyperlipidemic, anti-obesity, anti-fatty liver, antidiabetic, anti-hyperuricemic, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, antioxidant activity, and thus has tremendous potential to be developed into drugs. This overview comprehensively summarized the widespread knowledge regarding to the chemistry and biology of nuciferine including isolation techniques, total synthesis, structural modification and structure-activity relationships, bioactivities, metabolismin vivo, and biosynthesis. Furthermore, an expectation was prospectively made for the future research on nuciferine through a careful analysis of the related literature up to early February 2022 and on the strength of our expertise in chemistry and biology of natural products.

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Argyreia speciosaSweet (Family - Convolvulaceae) is an important ‘rasayana’ herb used extensively as an adaptogen in the Ayurvedic system of medicine. It is commonly known as Hawaiian Baby Woodrose, Elephant creeper or Woolly morning glow in English and in Sanskrit, it is called asVridhadarakameaning ‘anti-aging’. It is a large climber growing throughout India. It has been assigned various medicinal properties by Ayurvedic Materia Medica. The root is regarded as an alternative tonic and used in cases of rheumatism and neurological disorders. A wide range of phytochemicals has been isolated from the plant and possesses various traditional and tribal uses for cure of human ailments. Pharmacological activities such as anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-rheumatic, immunomodulatory, adaptogenic and hepatoprotective have also been reported. Adverse side effects have made the use of many modern medicines limited and it is worthwhile to explore the possibility of this drug for the treatment of liver, rhueumatic and neurological complaints. This article reviews studies on medicinal uses on this important herb.

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