Studies have proved that gamma oryzanol is a great natural antioxidant to treat insomnia. Experts tell you how

Coronasomnia is a new term that refers to sleep problems related to the pandemic. With increased stress and anxiety, there is a definite impact on our sleep and mental health, and the best way to combat it is to stick to good sleep and hygiene practices.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak in early 2020, people have started focusing on sleep quality. This was because the outbreak started disrupting their lifestyle. Moreover, the anxiety caused by the pandemic added to sleep woes.

“Sleep plays a vital role in our overall health. Due to modern lifestyle and all the stress that it brings along, sleep disorders have become very common and during the pandemic, we have seen a surge in insomnia,” Dr Pratibha Dogra, Head, Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, W Pratiksha Hospital Gurugram said.

The pandemic has dramatically altered the sleeping pattern of many following isolation, loss of work, economic and health worries. Disruption in work, school and homelife has increased stress, anxiety, and depression. Experts highlight that treatment of insomnia mostly involves pharmaceutical drugs but then it comes with its own side effects and many people are not really open or they don't want to take pharmacotherapy because of the side effects.

Many studies are being done to find out certain natural substances, which can help in the treatment of insomnia and gamma oryzanol is one of them.

Dogra further added that “Gamma oryzanol is a great natural antioxidant which has been derived from the rice bran. Many studies have been done on this, which have proved that gamma oryzanol is good for treatment of insomnia, a recent study done in Korea in 2017, has proved that. It is a natural sleeping aid. So gamma oryzanol has proven to promote good quality sleep that too in a natural way.”

According to a recent study conducted by a Delhi-based mental health service platform — The Center of Healing (TCOH), there has been an increase in stress and anxiety among people since the Covid-19 pandemic started.The study stated that 74 per cent and 88 per cent of Indians reported stress and anxiety respectively. For the study, the researchers surveyed over 10,000 Indians to understand how they have been coping with the new normal.

Dr Nand Kumar, Professor of Psychiatry Department, AIIMS, New Delhi said “Managing stress level becomes really important as stress over a period of time can lead to many diseases like sleeplessness, depression, panic attack, high blood pressure, heart diseases and diabetes. Stress is helpful at optimum level but becomes troublesome when it exceeds our physiological and emotional resilience. Stress and related medical conditions can be naturally managed by lifestyle modifications, dietary changes, little medication and consumption of natural antioxidants.”

Kumar also added that there are several antioxidants available for enhancing our overall health. Recently discovered gamma oryzanol preliminarily extracted from rice bran, is an important antioxidant. As per recently conducted scientific study, gamma oryzanol alleviates high-fat diet-induced anxiety-like behaviours through downregulation of dopamine and inflammation. Moreover, gamma oryzanol can significantly improve the symptoms of dementia, without compromising cognitive function or causing other major side effects.

Gamma oryzanol is also registered as an anti-anxiety medicine in Japan since 1962. It is a natural medicine to relieve stress thereby protecting us from many related ailments.