Sleep Res Online. 2000 ; 3(2): 49-52.

Some basic features of the new sleep-aid tea (SAT) for the treatment of insomnia.

Shiyi L.

Shanghai Institute of Physiology, Academia Sinica Shanghai Huake Institute of Sleep and Anti-dementia (SHISA) Shanghai, China.

The "immediate-onset"-acting hypnotics (1-2 h after oral administration) (e.g., benzodiazepines) serve as the leading approach and great progress has been made in this century. They are exogenous from artificial synthesis and mainly fit for short-term insomnia. The "gradual-onset"-acting hypnotics (3-5 d after oral administration) are mild and gradually effective, but are very safe and without noticeable side or adverse effects. They are endogenous or endogenous-mimetic from natural isolation. It may serve as a more natural approach for the treatment of chronic or long-term insomnia, which is mainly gradually developed. This approach is especially useful in treating elderly people, whose numbers are rapidly increasing worldwide, especially in the next century. Sleep-Aid Tea (SAT) is a naturally processed Tea consisting of endogenous or endogenous-mimetic sleep-inducing substances isolated from specific natural and edible fruits and plants well known for the treatment of insomnia, e.g., Compendium of Materia Medica (Li, 1596) associated with modern knowledge and isolation technology (Liu, 1990, 1993). SAT is especially fit for the treatment of insomnia in aged people because it is mild, "gradual-onset"-acting (3-5 d after oral administration), natural, safe and without side effects.