Passion flower is a plant that has played an important role in modern history and has made appearances in a variety of different cultures. In the native North American Indian culture, the plant was primarily used as a natural medicine. It has been used to help treat a number of different psychosomatic issues.

Including passion flower in your daily diet or lifestyle is an easy and healthy way to relieve the symptoms of a wide variety of common issues. Moreover, not only is the extract cost-effective and relatively safer than certain conventional medications, passion flower extract is tasty as well. Bottom line: you might just find the holistic solution you’ve been looking for.

What Is Passion Flower? Where Does Passion Flower Come From?

Passion fruit flower growing.

The passion flower plant is thought to have one of the highest amounts of species within its genus.  It contains roughly 550 unique species around the world. The plant tends to grow most commonly in vine-like form in areas that have a high humidity, acidic soils with good drainage and consistent rainfall. These areas tend to be in the Pacific and Polynesian parts of the world.  Tropical climates are usually selected for mass cultivation.

The passion flower plant contains one of the widest varieties of volatile phytochemicals in the plant kingdom. This makes the plant valuable as a medicinal product. Passion flower contains high levels of organic acids. Examples of acids include linoleic, butyric, linolenic, malic, oleic, palmitic and formic acid. This means that the plant works well as both a treatment and an overall immune booster. Luckily, it can be incorporated into your diet quite easily.

Passion Flower For Anxiety Explained

Girl laughing.

Anxiety is something that many of us deal with on a daily basis in modern times. This is simply due to the fast-paced nature of our lifestyles and the increasingly high-demand culture of our workplace environment. Over time, the compounded effects of stress and anxiety can have drastically negative effects on the quality of your health. Under stress, your body releases cortisol. This hormone reminds us that we’re experiencing something that we either don’t like or isn’t good for us. Consequently, it causes us to feel uncomfortable.

Passion flower contains a number of flavonoids that are known to help suppress and regulate the release of cortisol in our brains. This means that we’re better equipped to handle long-term stress more effectively.  Over time, we can improve the quality of our health and reduce the chances of developing serious chronic health issues that tend to result from long-term stress. And all without the often harmful side-effects that come from contemporary sedatives like addiction, more anxiety or high blood pressure to name a few.   

Passion Flower For Sleep Explained

Woman sleeping in her bed.

Passion flower contains high levels of benzoflavones and flavonoids that are responsible for regulating our GABA (gamma-aminobutyric receptors). These receptors respond to our bodies cues to release certain hormones associated with the hypothalamus gland. This gland contains melatonin and is responsible for causing the drowsiness that allows us to fall asleep every night. By stimulating these receptors, we’re able to induce drowsiness and ultimately fall asleep more easily. This therefore allows our bodies to reset their hormonal balance.

The best way to utilize passion flower extract to induce sleep is by utilizing the organic leaves and flowers in tea form or the processed extracts in powder form. Consume 1 to 2 cups of the tea before going to sleep in the evening. You’ll start to feel the onsets of drowsiness within an hour in most cases.  However, using the plant’s extracts for an extended period of time means that you have to stay within a recommended range of dosage. This avoids any latent side-effects that may occur while using the extracts.

Passion Flower Extract Explained

As with most organic compounds, passion flower extract is made by drying out the plant and grounding the organic matter into powder form. As a result, this then becomes a concentrated form of the phytochemicals and volatile compounds contained within the plant.

This powdered form of the plant can be sold in capsule form, which regulates the dosage within standardized safety limits. Therefore, this reduces the risk of side effects. If the powder extract is sold in large containers, make sure you get the correct dosage limits for you. This will vary depending on your BMI or the health issue that you’re treating.

The drowsiness caused by the potency of the drug can place you in danger in certain circumstances. The best way to use the extract is to dilute it in either a glass of water or add it to juices or smoothies. This way you limit the effects. Also the method of delivery provides your body with additional health benefits that a capsule often does not. Another popular method of consumption is in tea form, although many prefer using raw parts of the plant for these purposes as they are often more flavorful.

How To Make Passion Flower Tea

Tea poured into mug.

While there are a number of different passion flower teas available on the market, being able to create your own blend is both fun and cost-effective. It gives you the chance to experiment with different flavor combinations and varieties. The best way to utilize passionflower for a homemade tea is to grow the flower in or around your home. This makes harvesting the elements of the plant that you need much easier and reduces the cost of having to buy the same parts of the plant in dried form.

If you’re not sure how to make passion flower tea, it’s quick and simple. All you need to do is include all the organic elements together into the muslin cloth filter. This includes 150 grams of passionflower leaves and a few tentacles of the flower itself. You’ll also need 2 tbsp of orange zest, 2 cinnamon sticks and some mint leaves.  Tie the filter at the top and crush the ingredients with a rolling pin or your hands. This helps to release the essential oils and natural essences contained within them. Place the muslin cloth in the teapot or cooking pot, boil 300 ml water and then pour it over the filter.

Seal the teapot or cooking pot and allow the water to steep for at least 10 minutes. After the time has elapsed, remove the muslin cloth filter and store it in a plastic container. Adding the same amount of ingredients to the same filter allows you to get more use out of the filter. This also increases the flavor and texture of the tea. Sit back and sip on the healthy, flavorful experience of your own delicious passionflower tea-blend.

What Is A Safe Dosage Of Passion Flower?

While there are a lot of health benefits associated with using the passion flower extract or plant in its raw form, you should use the plant with caution. There are still a few side-effects associated with the chemical compounds within the plant. Therefore, it’s important to know what you’re looking for and stay within recommended dosages. 

Some of the more common side-effects associated with high dosages of passionflower extract are confusion, drowsiness, nausea, low blood pressure and abnormal heart rate. In order to stay within the generally recommended dosage range, no more than 90 mg of the powdered extract should be used a day and roughly 75 – 90 ml of the liquid extract.

Conclusion

Using passion flower and passion flower infused products is a great way to help relieve a wide variety of the more common health issues we’re faced with on a daily basis. The risk of relying on addiction-forming sedatives to help induce sleep or decrease stress levels is something that should be done with great caution, as addiction is a very real possibility for all of us. Sometimes, relying on a slow-acting natural alternative is a better option (and often more cost-effective as well).

However, every situation is unique. Therefore, be sure to be in touch with a medical professional before experimenting with natural medicines or conventional pharmaceutical drugs. But remember, your personal experience is what matters most at the end of the day. So, if you feel that either option isn’t working for you, consider alternating and measure the results accordingly.