Lemon Balm

(Melissa officinalis)

Family: Lamiacaea

Parts Used: Fresh or dried aerial parts – harvest before flowering

Qualities: Cooling, drying

Taste: sour, sweet, slightly bitter

Actions:

• Carminative

• Anxiolytic (may significantly inhibit MAO-A, an enzyme responsible for degradation of a range of neurotransmitters, including serotonin and dopamine

• Spasmolytic / anti-spasmodic

• Mild sedative

• Antidepressant (Hoffman)

• Diaphoretic

• Hypotensive (Hoffman)

• Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) antagonist (although there is some thought that Lemon Balm is more of a thyroid adaptogen and will only reduce TSH if required)

• Antiviral (topically)

Indications:

• Sleep disturbances

• Nervous sleeping disorders

• Mild anxiety disorders

• Infantile colic

• Indigestion, flatulence, colic

• Tenseness and irritability

• Depression, nervous breakdown

• Stress and tension

• Overactive thyroid

• Fevers

• Common cold, influenza

• Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)

• Teenage health – e.g. nervousness, low mood, poor cognition and sleeping difficulties

• Topical treatment for herpes simplex virus – applied in a concentrated aqueous extract or as an essential oil in a cream for herpes simplex type 1 (reduces healing time by half)

Contraindications: Theoretically, taking large amounts of lemon balm can have effects on people with hypothyroidism and taking Synthroid or other thyroid stimulating medications.