Hops for anxiety

I'd like to start consuming hops for anxiety for when I'm not drinking. Does anyone know what oils are most responsible for the calming effect, and what kind of hops would be recommended? I cant seem to find much information about this on the internet. Any other information would be greatly appreciated as well. Thanks for your time!

I recommend you search Medical journals to see if you can find info

http://www.pubmed.com is your best bet to find the info you want

In just a few minutes searching on Hops Anxiety i found a bunch of articles of varying usefulness
For example this PDF has some info, they dont go into the chemical compounds in hops causing it, but list some common concoctions that seemed to help.

http://www.medscimonit.com/download/index/idArt/878231

I would think your best bet would be bittering hops, steep them in hot water like you would tea and drink that.

Their webpage on PubMed is setup confusing and stupid, if you find an article that looks interesting check the top right of the page. To the right of "Send To" there may be a button with a link to the full free article if it exists, many you would have to pay for though.

I am not familiar with hops (inhaled or ingested) being a cure for anxiety but I guess it would not surprise me. I can tell you from personal experience that "hop haze" is a very sedative effect. This comes from breathing in the aromas/oils coming off the hops. At harvest time, we need to keep a constant airflow going through our buildings or our workforce starts to doze off.

If you do indentify the oil you want, here's a pretty good summary of the oils present in the various varieties. http://beerlegends.com/chemistry-of-hops-and-alpha-acids

I know I've heard of making hop pillows to help with relaxation, but I've never seen any indication as to which varietals are most effective.

I can see GVH Dan's comments being accurate though, when I harvest my hops there is a mild sedative effect, everything just seems right in the world. But I only have 4 varieties so not enough to determine if any one has more of an effect.

I don't know about hops helping anxiety, but a nice IIPA sure does calm the nerves.

Take your pick of what kind you really like and make tincture. Use brandy or vodka of a moderate price and pour over whole hops (if you can get them) in a canning jar, preferably one large enough to hold a whole fifth of alcohol with the plant material, and give it a good shake every so often for a few weeks. Store in a cool dark place while it's extracting, then strain out the hops and bam, magical sleepy-time sedative elixir. mix 20-30 drops in a cup of warm water with or without tea (caffeine might make anxiety worse) and consume. As for how much hops to use in the tincture I'm not entirely sure, but I imagine an ounce of whole cone would make one of sufficient potency if the AA's are on the higher end.

Hops have been used as a sleep aid for quite some time, so logic would dictate that any of the long established varieties will serve you well. That would be any number of continental hops: Kent Goldings and Fuggles have been around since the 1800's. Brewer's Gold and Bullion since the 1920's. Just to name a few.

Disclaimer: Who the hell knows. Citra might be the best anxiety/sleep aid out of all of them. I am just throwing ideas out there.

RachmaelBenApplebaum said:

Take your pick of what kind you really like and make tincture. Use brandy or vodka of a moderate price and pour over whole hops (if you can get them) in a canning jar, preferably one large enough to hold a whole fifth of alcohol with the plant material, and give it a good shake every so often for a few weeks. Store in a cool dark place while it's extracting, then strain out the hops and bam, magical sleepy-time sedative elixir. mix 20-30 drops in a cup of warm water with or without tea (caffeine might make anxiety worse) and consume. As for how much hops to use in the tincture I'm not entirely sure, but I imagine an ounce of whole cone would make one of sufficient potency if the AA's are on the higher end.

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Yep, because it would be the stuff extracted from the hops that would be the effective agent in curing the anxiety here, definitely not the vodka!!!

broadbill said:

Yep, because it would be the stuff extracted from the hops that would be the effective agent in curing the anxiety here, definitely not the vodka!!!

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20-30 drops is just over a milliliter. Man, you must be a lightweight.

MalFet said:

20-30 drops is just over a milliliter. Man, you must be a lightweight.

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This, plus, if you put it in a cup of hot water the alcohol mostly evaporates and you're left with the essential oils/good stuff. Definitely DON'T TAKE SHOTS OF THIS, YOU WILL REGRET IT IMMEDIATELY.

Make sure to take a look at the TeaMaker variety. I planted some last year from Great Lakes and they are growing really well. The cones contain high beta acids, but super-low alph (bittering) acids. This makes them perfect for, as the name suggests, brewing tea.

Kava-kava works for my wife, I have 12 taps of stress relief.

Apparently ab lincoln had used hop pillows to help with his bad sleeping habits!!!

You can buy 100 hops capsules for 3-4 bucks from vitamin retailers. But if you have recurring anxiety issues, self-medicating might not be your best course of action.