Humulus lupulus (Hops) 5X Extract

Used as an infustion, decoction, extract, tincture, brew, smoke and poultice.

The 1997 Commission E on Phytotherapy and Herbal Substances of the German Federal Institute for Drugs recommends Hops for 'Mood disturbances such as restlessness and anxiety, sleep disturbances.'

'Single dosage of drug: 0.5 g. Mode of Administration: Cut drug, powdered drug or dry extract powder for infusions or decoctions or other preparations. Liquid and solid preparations for internal use. Note: Combinations with all other sedatives can be beneficial. Actions: Calming; Sleep promoting.'

The contemporary British Herbal Compendium indicates Hops use for excitability, restlessness, disorders of sleep, and lack of appetite, as does the European Scientific Cooperative on Phytotherapy and the German Standard License.

Hops are high in the bitter principles humulone and lupulone. These are thought to be responsible for the appetite-stimulating properties of hops. Hops also contain about 1–3% volatile oils. Hops have been shown to have mild sedative properties. Many herbal preparations for insomnia combine hops with other sedative herbs, such as valerian, passion flower and scullcap.

Grieve's classic 'A Modern Herbal': 'Hops have tonic, nervine, diuretic and anodyne properties. Their volatile oil produces sedative and soporific effects, and the Lupamaric acid or bitter principle is stomachic and tonic. For this reason Hops improve the appetite and promote sleep.'

'The official preparations are an infusion and a tincture. The infusion is employed as a vehicle, especially for bitters and tonics: the tincture is stomachic and is used to improve the appetite and digestion. Both preparations have been considered to be sedative, were formerly much given in nervousness and hysteria and at bedtime to induce sleep; in cases of nervousness, delirium and inflammation being considered to produce a most soothing effect, frequently procuring for the patient sleep after long periods of sleeplessness in overwrought conditions of the brain.'

'The bitter principle in the Hop proves one of the most efficacious vegetable bitters obtainable. An infusion of ½ oz. Hops to 1 pint of water will be found the proper quantity for ordinary use. It has proved of great service also in heart disease, fits, neuralgia and nervous disorders, besides being a useful tonic in indigestion, jaundice, and stomach and liver affections generally. It gives prompt ease to an irritable bladder, and is said to be an excellent drink in cases of delirium tremens. Sherry in which some Hops have been steeped makes a capital stomachic cordial.'

'A pillow of warm Hops will often relieve toothache and earache and allay nervous irritation.'

'An infusion of the leaves, strobiles and stalks, as Hop Tea, taken by the wineglassful two or three times daily in the early spring, is good for sluggish livers. Hop Tea in the leaf, as frequently sold by grocers, consists of Kentish Hop leaves, dried, crushed under rollers and then mixed with ordinary Ceylon or Indian Tea. The infusion combines the refreshment of the one herb with the sleepinducing virtues of the other.'

'Hop juice cleanses the blood, and for calculus trouble nothing better can be found than the bitter principle of the Hop. A decoction of the root has been esteemed as of equal benefit with Sarsaparilla.'

'As an external remedy, an infusion of Hops is much in demand in combination with chamomile flowers or poppy heads as a fomentation for swelling of a painful nature, inflammation, neuralgic and rheumatic pains, bruises, boils and gatherings. It removes pain and allays inflammation in a very short time. The Hops may also be applied as a poultice.'

'The drug Lupulin is an aromatic bitter and is reputed to be midly sedative, inducing sleep without causing headache.'

'It is occasionally administered as a hypnotic, either in pills with alcohol, or enclosed in a cachet.'

'Preparations of Lupulin are not much used in this country, although official, but in the United States they are considered preferable for internal use.'

King's 1898 Dispensatory: 'Hops are tonic, hypnotic, febrifuge, antilithic, and anthelmintic. Their tonic and anthelmintic properties are small, and probably depend upon their bitterness; they possess no antiperiodic virtues. Sometimes they cause diuresis, and are said to correct lithic acid deposits.'

'They are principally used for their sedative or hypnotic action—producing sleep, removing restlessness, and abating pain, but which they often fail to accomplish. A pillow stuffed with hops has long been a popular remedy for procuring sleep.'

'Hops, as well as lupulin, are useful in delirium tremens to allay the morbid excitement and vigilance, while at the same time it exerts its stomachic effects. It is extremely efficient in dyspepsia where restlessness and a brooding disposition are prominent features. Fermentative dyspepsia, with consequent eructations, often yields to hops or lupulin.'

'Externally, in the form of a fomentation alone, or combined with boneset or other bitter herbs, hops have proved beneficial in pneumonia, pleurisy, gastritis, enteritis; also as an application to painful swellings or tumors. An ointment made by boiling 2 parts of stramonium leaves and 1 of hops, in lard, has proved an effectual application in eczema, ulcers, and painful tumors.'

'Lupulin exerts a more certain influence than hops, and should be preferred for internal use, as the dose is much less bulky. The properties here ascribed to hops are possessed by lupulin, and the conditions benefited by lupulin are also those in which hops act beneficially. The subject will be further discussed under Lupulin (see Lupulinum).'

'The decoction of hops is seldom employed. Ale, porter, and beer are frequently administered in cases of debility in the absence of inflammatory symptoms, as tonic, stimulant, and nutritive agents. (For specific indications see Lupulinum.)'

American Materia Medica, 1919 (Ellingwood): ' In all forms of nervous excitement it is soothing in its influence, and a hypnotic of much value. This is especially the case in hysteria and in the sexual irritation of females.'

'In mild conditions of insomnia, with persistent worry, in patients recovering from neurasthenia, and in hysterical patients, or in cases where there is no organic difficulty or pain to cause the wakefulness, small and frequent or single full doses of this agent will have a marked tranquilizing effect. A pillow of hops will have a soothing influence in some of these cases, and may be all that is needed to induce sleep.'

'Fomentation made by dipping a muslin bag filled with hops into hot water, wrung out and applied over painful acute local inflammations and painful swellings, is a favorite domestic measure. Applied to facial neuralgia, or over an ulcerating tooth, or in the earache of children, it allays pain and promotes sleep.'

'In the treatment of delirium tremens a capsule containing a grain of capsicum and eight grains of lupulin given during the intense excitement preceding the attack, will sometimes ward it off. Half of a teaspoonful of each of the tinctures in combination may be given. A strong infusion of hops and cayenne pepper is excellent in this case to be drunk hot as demanded.'