Bacopa

Bacopa monnieri is a perennial, creeping herb whose habitat includes wetlands and muddy shores. It has been used for centuries to treat epilepsy, improve memory capacity,  increase concentration and reduce stress-induced anxiety. 

Patients taking Bacopa say that they can handle difficult mental tasks and stress. It improves the memory. Increased learning abilities. Protects the brain from the effects of aging. Bacopa Is known for its beneficial actions on the brain, memory, mental deficiency, Alzheimer’s disease, learning skills, anxiety, depression, stress, epilepsy and ADHD children. With Bacopa, one can greatly increase synaptic activity and the speed of nerve transmission and impulses. This makes the thinking process faster and improves the speed of memory recall. 

Memory itself is enhanced due to Bacopa increasing the levels of acetylcholine in the brain. Acetylcholine is the neurotransmitter that shuttles messages from one brain cell to another. 

Other common medicinal uses include treating asthma, epilepsy, memory loss, eczema, psoriasis, constipation, hair loss, bronchitis and rheumatism. 

The plant is also a powerful antioxidant and is believed to have anti-anxiety effects, likely because of its well-known sedative and tranquilizing properties. 

Alzheimer’s Disease: Bacopa showed important antioxidant activity in many brain parts like hippocampus, striatum and frontal cortex. Further studies showed its protective effect against DNA damage in astrocytes and fibroblast cells. This suggests an important role in Alzheimer’s and Bacopa may be useful in checking the progression of this brain disease. 

Anxiety: Research on anxiety showed calming activity of its extract. Another study on anxiety neurosis patients  found significant reduction in anxiety symptoms, level of disability and fatigue. 

Brain: Bacopa is a wonderful brain tonic or nerve nourishing agent for the side effects from the drugs that modulate the behavior. Bacopa showed improvement in speed of visual information processing by task, learning rate and memory consolidation. Improvement in higher order cognitive functions that depend on memory, learning and environmental factors. The dosage in the research was 300 mg of Bacopa extracts daily 

Brain fog: Bacopa is the ultimate brain tonic for general brain and nerve health. Bacopa helps clear the mind and improve the ability to focus. It helps with short term memory problems and mental weakness. Mental dullness, anxiety and depression have been helped with the bacopa extract. Toxic brain fog from medications, radiation and chemotherapy have benefited from the herb. 

Depression: The Bacopa extract in the dose of 20 to 40 mg per kg was given once daily for five days and it was found comparable to standard anti-depressant drug imipramine in anti-depressant activity. 

Epilepsy: Epilepsy patients who are taking Barbiturates can benefit from Bacopa. It may potentiate the effect of Barbiturates so they are needed in lower dosage. Plus there would be relief from other side effects like behavioral abnormalities, diminution of intelligence, impairment of learning and memory, hyperactivity in children and mental confusion in older patients. 

Learning: Conparable memory and learning enhancement in people treated with Bacopa. Biochemical studies found the serotonin content to be higher. Bacopa effects on children, showed significant improvement in exploratory drive, improved perceptual image of patterns and increased perceptual organization and reasoning abilities. Bacopa reduced the time to learn specific task to six days while the control group took ten days to learn the same task.

Memory: Bacopa decreases the rate of forgetting of newly acquired information, verbal learning rate and memory consolidation. There is memory enhancing effects by taking this brain tonic. There was also an increase in short term memory, decreased respiratory rate and lower systolic blood pressure. It can go a long way in keeping your brain and memory sharp. This herb was found to be effective in tests for retention of new information.

Mental health: Bacopa improves the concentration ability, memory span, and overall mental performance in individuals taking the extract. There is also improvement in the performance of school children with a history of poor educational performance. 

Parkinson’s Disease: Bacopa shows promise to treat Parkinson’s disease. Studies suggest that it improves circulation to the brain, as well as improving mood, cognitive function, and general neurological function. It reduces alpha synuclein aggregation in preventing amyloid deposits. Bacopa prevents dopamine degradation, a neuro-protective dopaminergic. Dosage guidelines vary but some practitioners suggest 100 – 200 mg daily. 

Dosage: Bacopa tincture: Take 5 to 20 drops of the tincture, 1 to 3 times daily. Mix 1-2 teaspoons of Bacopa powder with juice, yogourt or add to your favorite smoothie. It can also be used as a tea or a hearty brain healthy soup. 

Reference: Dr. Robin Murphy. 

Transcribed by YM Homeopathy. https://ymeir.blogspot.com