Sugarcane component cuts your stress and increases sleep 

There is good news for people who are not getting proper sleep due to stress. Researchers, led by an Indian-origin scientist, have found that an active component rich in sugarcane and other natural products may ameliorate stress and help in having sound sleep.

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According to a research:

• Currently available sleeping pills do not address stress component and often have severe side effects.
• Sleep loss is also associated with certain other diseases including obesity, cardiovascular diseases, depression and anxiety.
• The research group found that octacosanol reduces stress and restores stress-affected sleep back to normal.
• This compound is abundantly present in various everyday foods such as sugarcane, rice bran, wheat germ oil, bee wax etc.
• The crude extract is policosanol, where octacosanol is the major constituent.
• Policosanol and octacosanol have already used in humans for various other medical conditions.

Current Study:

• In the current study, the researchers investigated the effect of octacosanol on sleep regulation in mildly stressed mice by oral administration.
• It reduced corticosterone level in blood plasma, which is a stress marker, the findings showed.
• The octacosanol-administered mice also showed normal sleep, which was previously disturbed due to stress.
• The researchers found that sleep induced by octacosanol was similar to natural sleep and physiological in nature.
• But the treatment did not affect sleep in normal animals.
• These results demonstrated that octacosanol is an active compound that has potential to reduce stress and to increase sleep.
• And it could potentially be useful for the therapy of insomnia caused by stress.
• Octacosanol can be considered safe for human use as a therapy.
• Because it is a food-based compound and believed to show no side effects.
• However, well-planned clinical studies need to be carried out to confirm.
• In addition,its effect on humans for its stress-mitigation and sleep-inducing potentials.