Lemon Balm Relieves Anxiety, Colic, and More
This gentle plant clears our heads and our hearts
With its bright cheery scent and ability to soothe those struggling with anxiety and trauma, lemon balm (Melissa officinalis) is a gentle plant with a lot to offer. Lemon Balm is native to southern Europe and northern Africa. It was sacred to those who worshiped Artemis and Diana in ancient Greece and Rome, respectively. Lemon balm was considered essential to successful bee-keeping. This was one of the main reasons that lemon balm was brought all over the world and has naturalized to almost every warm or temperate area.
Identification
Lemon balm is a member of the mint family. One key feature for identifying mints is their square-shaped stems. Key features of lemon balm include:
About 2 feet tall
Oval or heart-shaped leaves, with teeth
Lemon-scented leaves
Leaves are found in pairs at each stem joint
Small white flowers, that may be yellowish or pinkish
How to Harvest
If you’re growing your own lemon balm, they like full-sun, fertile, well-drained soil. As with many plants in the mint family, they tend to grow vigorously and spread easily, even in suboptimal conditions. The first year you can cut several inches off the top of the plant one time, in subsequent years you can cut off the top 2-3 times. Lemon balm is rarely the target of deer or rabbits.
Eating and Drinking Lemon Balm
Like nearly all plants in the mint family, lemon balm is edible, and is delicious! I enjoy it most in herbal teas (hot, or especially iced). It would be great in a fruit salad alongside or instead of mint (I’m imagining with berries or stone fruit). Some recommend it with poultry or fish as well, though I haven’t tried that myself. It is rich in vitamin C and thiamine.
How to Prepare as Medicine
I most commonly use lemon balm either as a tincture or a tea. If you have fresh lemon balm, simply pack a jar full of chopped lemon balm leaves (if you have dried lemon balm, just fill it about half way). Then, fill the jar with brandy or vodka and let it sit for 4-6 weeks. Pour the liquid through a strainer to remove the plant parts, then into a dropper bottle. If you are a more visual person, I have a video about making tinctures here.
The safe dosing range is pretty broad, but it is reasonable to start at 10-20 drops, 1-3 times a day. (I’d probably suggest starting on the low end, 3 times a day, and adjust from there). For tea, 1 tsp dried or 1 Tbsp fresh lemon balm up to three times a day. I suspect you could safely go higher on the lemon balm dose, but that’s quite a lot of tea, and I doubt you’d see more benefit. Lemon balm is also really useful for making other teas tasty.
Lemon balm works in beautiful synergy with motherwort, especially for mothers experiencing anxiety or anger, so you may wish to combine those tinctures. Bear in mind though, that motherwort is generally unpalatably bitter (at least when it is flowering and most medicinal), so usually motherwort tincture is best tolerated.
Medicinal Uses
Traditional uses of lemon balm include nervousness, anxiety, insomnia, memory improvement, heart palpitations, and irregular menstruation.
Modern herbalists also use lemon balm for headaches, cold sores, herpes, intestinal gas and bloating (especially when this is stress-related).
Herbalists find lemon balm to be both soothing and uplifting. Some feel that its calming effect is most appreciated through a cup of lemon balm tea.
Medical Literature
General:
Antibacterial activity against E. coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria, Pseudomonas, and Klebsiella
Antifungal activity against several types of yeasts
Antiviral activity against COVID, herpes viruses, some influenza viruses, HIV, and one of the main viruses that causes hand, foot, and mouth disease
In a study on mice, mice treated with lemon balm experienced less pain and swelling after a lab-induced injury.
Adding lemon balm and valerian extract to the medication quetiapine (Seroquel), decreased agitation and length of stay in the ICU for critically ill patients compared to quetiapine with placebo. The patients treated with the herbal remedy experienced no additional side effects.
Cardiology:
Research studies in humans have shown that lemon balm relieves heart palpitations
Lowered cholesterol and inflammation levels in patients with chronic stable chest pain due to heart disease. A review of several studies found that it reduced “bad” cholesterol without reducing “good” cholesterol.
In animal studies, researchers found that lemon balm reduced the severity of injury to the heart muscle after heart attack
Metabolic:
In diabetic patients, various studies showed that lemon balm helped to lower triglycerides, blood sugar, hemoglobin A1c (a measure of blood sugar over a 3 month period), and blood pressure
An animal study in mice found that a combination of lemon balm and corn silk reduced weight gain from a high-fat diet
Alleviates damage to the liver caused by obesity
Oncology:
Extract killed breast cancer cells and glioblastoma cells (a particularly deadly type of brain cancer)
Renal:
Prevents kidney injury caused by medications
Neurologic:
Protects the brain from injury due to ecstasy
Decreases agitation and improves cognitive function in people with Alzheimer’s dementia
Prevents the breakdown of GABA near the hippocampus (brain structure responsible for memory and emotional processing). GABA is a neurotransmitter that slows down or quiets nerve activity.
Psychiatry:
For patients undergoing heart bypass surgery, they were treated with lemon balm or placebo. Of those treated with lemon balm, 49% had reduced anxiety and 54% had improved sleep
Two weeks of lemon balm leaf extract treatment decreased anxiety and heart palpitation symptoms without side effects
Relieves ADHD symptoms in children and adults
Essential oil reduced anxiety and burden of symptoms in dialysis patients
Breastfeeding:
There is some low-quality evidence that lemon balm increases breast milk production.
Women’s Health:
Four weeks of lemon balm extract treatment for women with hypoactive sexual desire, resulted in increased desire, arousal, lubrication, orgasm, satisfaction, and decreased pain compared to placebo
Relieves sleep problems associated with menopause
Dermatology:
Relieves eczema
Extract has anti-wrinkle effect on skin when applied as a cream
Pediatric:
Relieves colic in infants. Crying time was decreased in 86% of patients treated with lemon balm compared with 48% of control patients.
Reduced grinding of teeth in children up to 30 days after treatment
From https://www.imrpress.com/journal/FBS/14/2/10.31083/j.fbs1402016/htm
Interestingly, there is substantial variation in the presence of medicinal compounds depending on where the lemon balm was grown.
Adverse Effects
Lemon balm extracts are generally recognized as safe and have not been associated with any elevated liver enzymes. Small research trials suggest that side effects from lemon balm are mild like headaches, dizziness, and bloating. It was unclear whether those effects were due to the lemon balm because people receiving placebo experienced the symptoms at similar rates. Testing for toxicity did find that taking too high of a dose can result in liver or nerve cell injury. Animal studies did not show any evidence of toxicity in mice up in the doses they studied. Studies in fish showed damage to the liver, heart, kidneys, and spleen at high doses. There have not been any randomized controlled trials in humans that have shown adverse effects from lemon balm. Some herbalism references suggest avoiding lemon balm if you have hypothyroidism. I did not find specific research to back up this practice, but the topic has not been well-studied.
Ecosystem Services
Pollinators love lemon balm, while mosquitoes and gnats are repelled by it. Lemon balm can pull nutrients from deep in the soil into its leaves leaving more fertility at the surface of the soil.
History and Folklore
Lemon balm’s genus name, Melissa, means honeybee in Greek. Lemon balm’s tiny flowers are very attractive to bees. In Greek mythology. Melissa was a nymph who discovered how to obtain honey from bees. The first recorded use of lemon balm was in 300 BC. Greek and Roman physicians used it for asthma, toothaches, and wounds. In ancient Greece, there were Melissae priestesses who served the Great Mother (meaning Rhea or Cybele) or the earth goddesses such as Demeter, Persephone, and Artemis. The honeybee was said to be the form the human soul took when descending from Artemis to earth. Lemon balm was planted around the beehives at the Temple of Artemis. It was also considered a sacred herb in the temples of Artemis and Diana. In first century Rome, lemon balm was used to encourage bees to return to their hives. Lemon balm leaves have also been used as furniture polish. 11th century Arab physician, Avicenna, said of lemon balm, that it, “causes the mind and heart to be merry.”
Charlemagne declared that all apothecary and monastery gardens should grow lemon balm. St. Hildegard von Bingen, abbess, herbalist, author, and songwriter, (as well as my personal patron saint), wrote of lemon balm, “lemon balm contains within it the virtues of a dozen other plants.” Drinking a cup of lemon balm tea each day was said to lengthen the life span considerably. Prince Llewellyn, the last prince of Wales, was said to have drunk lemon balm tea every day of his 108 year life. In the 14th century, Carmelite nuns started making Carmelite water, or Eau de Melisse. It was used for digestion, relieving stress, and skin care. If you are interested, you can still make Carmelite water using this recipe from Mountain Rose Herbs.
Paracelsus, the Swiss physician and alchemist in the 16th century, called lemon balm the “elixir of life” because he believed it was essential to a long, happy, healthy life. Lavender, mandrake, deadly nightshade, cardamom, plantain, juniper, saffron, and lemon balm, amongst others were considered witches’ plants. In Shakespeare’s era, lemon balm was sent as a message between lovers to signify sympathy. In King Richard II, King Henry IV, and King Lear lemon balm was used in anointing the king and to assuage their grief later in the play. In several other Shakespearean plays, it was referenced as a furniture polish. By the early 19th century, lemon balm had fallen out of favor because its actions were too gentle compared to that of other plants.
Magical Uses
Lemon balm is used for rituals focused on emotional healing, purification, and attracting positivity. It can be used in sachets, spells, or rituals to attract love by creating harmony, deepening connections, and healing emotional wounds. Like its medicinal uses, it can also be helpful for relaxation and relieving grief, anxiety, and stress.
Plant Spirit
I believe that plants, animals, winds, waters, stones have spirits we can interact with. In my experience, plants have a special way of “telling” us things that can really provide reassurance or guidance. There are many different ways to interact with the spirit of a plant. Plant spirit medicine interacts with them as a source of spiritual healing. One way to do this is through guided meditation/visualization. I am always surprised because my conscious mind has expectations of what will happen. It is never what actually comes forward. In these sessions, you might take some tea or tincture of a given plant if you have it, then use your imagination to take yourself to the realm of a given plant then have an encounter with the spirit of that plant. Sometimes you might see images, most often I receive verbal messages (but I think that is because the thought part of my brain is stronger than the image or sensation parts).
I haven’t journeyed with lemon balm myself yet. Others who have described a peaceful playfulness, and often calls people’s attention to the healing power of waters. Lemon balm encourages us to see the difference between our true selves and the masks we are conditioned to use. It helps adults who have become too serious
Flower Essences
Like plant spirit medicine, flower essences are a little more “out there” and require a bit more belief. A few flowers are soaked in clean water in the sunshine for a day, then mixed with a small amount of hard alcohol. They are a bit like homeopathy if you are familiar with that. The belief behind it is that you can take in the energy of the flower without actually consuming the flower material. I don’t have anything beyond anecdotal evidence for flower essences. However, if you’re making your own (rather than spending money on buying them), the only thing you are out is a little time. It may be that this is a combination of placebo plus focused attention on an issue you are trying to address in your life that helps rather than the flower essence. On the other hand, there is strong evidence that placebo actually works and we don’t really know why it works. It’s definitely plausible that placebos work by influencing the mind or the body’s energy systems (or both). I also think there are healing remedies that can work beyond our mind’s ability to comprehend how, so I like to learn about and try things like this.
Lemon balm flower essences help us:
Ward off evil
Recognize our versatility and flexibility
Relieve depression
Surrender to deep grief
Comfort the psyche after deep trauma
Connect to feminine energy
Uncover what is hidden beneath the surface
They are also associated with intuition, dreamwork, happiness, love, healing, prosperity, and renewal. It can also support those who are struggling with self-doubt and overthinking.
Blessing
Gentle Lemon Balm, Thank you for your peaceful, playful spirit Thank you for tending to our babies’ cries and our own Thank you for letting us set our worries and griefs down Please help us to rest beside still waters Please help us to splash and play as well Please calm our nerves and clear our minds We honor your soothing spirit
My friend
, invited me for a chat on his podcast. We dreamed about what healing the healthcare system and the culture could look like. You can check it out here.One more question, I have recently been thinking about these plant posts. I think of them like an encyclopedia, a reference that you can come back to when you want to work with a plant. But is that how you use it? I am often tempted to say, “Here is all of my knowledge, now you can have it too,” and I am aware that most people won’t use most of the information. Ultimately, what I’m wondering is do you like the complete reference or would you prefer to just hit the high points? Please let me know by whatever means is convenient (comment, email, or DM on Substack).
I think u are a gift. Thank u for the generosity & experience u share in your invaluable posts. I save nearly all of them & reference them regularly.
Lemon balm is one of my favorite plant allies!! I love the mix of historical knowledge and current research in this summary. 🌿