Linden tree is important for herbal medicine for flowers but also for its bud extract: as bud extract linden is a natural sedative, and not only! we tell you linden bud extract beneficial properties, how to use it, when and why.
Linden tree, or rather, some species of Lime (Tilia Tomentosa, Tilia platyphyllos, T. cordata Miller) is used in herbal medicine for its buds and inflorescences. Arboreal plant also 30 m high, spontaneous throughout Europe and in the sub-mountain and mountain areas up to 600 m. It has heart-shaped, alternate, petiolate leaves with serrated edges; the flowers, grouped in selvedge inflorescences, are whitish and fragrant. Linden contains mucilage, an essential oil, flavonic pigments and tannins, GABA (gamma amino butyric acid). The linden seems to have emollient, bechic, sedative, choleretic, hypotensive and diuretic properties.
Linden: the recognized properties
The linden flowers according to E.M.A. and German Commission, is indicated for:
- for the treatment of colds and coughs related to cooling states; In fact, the linden has diaphoretic and antispasmodic properties that have been attributed to p-coumaric acid and flavonoids;
- sedative and anxiolytic activity (GABAergic activity).
The linden tree evokes the concept of sedation and distension, but also of real tranquilizing and anti-stress effects if we use its most active extract: the bud extract. Let us now look at Linden used in the galenic form of Linden bud extract (Tilia tomentosa ( o “argentata”), gems, MG1DH).
Tétau, about Linden bud extract (Tilia tomentosa gems MG1DH), states: “It is a magnificent plant tranquilizer, devoid of any toxicity. The medicine prepared from fresh buds performs a completely astonishing activity […] also acts on the cortico-hypothalamic axis and on the reticulated substance, without a doubt raising the serotonins rate with a calming effect “.
Linden bud extract: posology
The usual dose of linden bud extract in the adult is 50 drops, 2 times a day or 30 drops, 3 times a day about half an hour before meals. In the child: half dose; in early childhood: 5-10 days, 3 times a day.
Linden bud extract: natural sedative and other recognized properties
Linden bud extract is recommend:
- as anti-stress: the “stress”, bad of our society, stress for work and career, palpitations and the emotions of menopause … and stress means metabolic suffering also of the skin;
- as natural sedative in neurovegetative dystonia thanks to the now proven spasmolytic and sedative properties attributable in part to Farnesolo, a terpene with neurosedative properties;
- to improve mood and carry out anxiolytic and mildly antidepressant activity, as studies show its action on the level of serotonin, which helps to raise;
- in anxious syndromes, in cardiac erectism which is almost always accompanied by these states, in arterial hypertension sustained by stress, in insomnia, etc.;
- in sleep disorders it promotes sleep and helps increase sleep duration. Experiments carried out on the guinea pig have shown that the sedative activity of Tilia tomentosa appears an hour after the oral treatment and persists for 24 hours (test of the hole apparatus). Furthermore, the buds of Tilia tomentosa greatly increase the ability to fall asleep and, importantly, do not alter the dream activity. The bud-derived is not, therefore, a sleeping pill, but a sleep inducer that does not cause addiction and is devoid of toxicity: for this reason it can be safely used both in the child and in the elderly. The dosage in the child (over 2 years of age), will be 1 drop per kilo (weight of the child) in the water, the night before bedtime. The treatment should be continued over time;
- in all cases where the spasm dominates (being antispasmodic): it is indicated in the treatment of irritable bowel, for example, it can be prescribed alone or it can be used alongside Vaccinium vitis idaea, a specific gemmoderivato for which it will optimize the action;
- depurative properties are also reported for Tilia tomentosa: in particular it would act by decreasing cholesterol and uric acid. Its indication in the treatment of overweight therefore acquires a further value: in addition to the anxiolytic and rebalancing action on the neurovegetative level, it combines depurative, cholesterol-lowering and uricosuric properties.
Warnings: it is reported (Brigo B., Phytotherapy and gemmotherapy in clinical practice, La Grafica Briantea, Como 1991) that, in some rare cases, the administration of Tilia tomentosa can achieve an inversion of effect: the assumption of the gemmoderivato can excite instead of calming down. In these cases the dosage should be reduced. It is therefore a good idea to start the therapy starting from the minimum posology (10-20 drops) and increase it, eventually, gradually.
Linden bud extracts: Scientific curiosities
A comparison between the adult plant and the bud has found that the buds of Tilia tomentosa have a higher content of flavonoids and amino acids than the leaves or the trunk. The tomentosa variety proved to be richer, compared to other varieties of Tilia, in terpene derivatives, important as they determine the antispasmodic and sedative activity.
Max Tétau (in Cahiers de Biothérapie, 138, 1996) reports the study carried out on the buds of Tilia tomentosa for the evaluation of sedative activity through a series of tests (all three with a positive outcome): spontaneous mobility test; barbiturate narcosis potentiation test; borehole test.
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