BANGALORE, India, March 10, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — During National Sleep Awareness Month in March, Natural Remedies is highlighting human clinical research on Holixer, a standardized holy basil extract, that applies modern sleep science to a botanical traditionally used in India for stress and sleep support.
National Sleep Awareness Month brings focus to the public health consequences of insufficient and poor-quality sleep, from diminished stress resilience to impaired cognitive performance. Emerging evidence suggests that sleep consistency and stability may be just as important as total sleep duration in determining how rested a person feels.
“Stress and sleep are tightly linked, yet often studied in isolation,” said Suresh Lakshmikanthan, Ph.D., chief business officer at Natural Remedies. “Our research looks at how traditional botanicals perform when evaluated with modern clinical and sleep science tools.”
Natural Remedies’ research portfolio on Holixer includes multiple randomized, double blind, placebo controlled human trials involving approximately 170 adults experiencing elevated stress. Across these studies, participants receiving Holixer demonstrated improvements in sleep efficiency, reductions in nighttime awakenings, and faster sleep onset, indicating more stable sleep patterns.
A central focus of this work has been sleep microarchitecture, an emerging area of sleep science that evaluates the structure and stability of sleep cycles rather than total sleep duration. Using overnight sleep monitoring, a clinical study currently under peer review found that participants taking Holixer showed higher CAP A1 activity, a marker of more stable non-REM sleep and fewer nighttime disruptions.
These changes in sleep microarchitecture were associated with better next-day cognitive performance and subjective recovery. Researchers increasingly recognize that fragmented non-REM sleep and altered CAP patterns can contribute to impaired memory consolidation, stress dysregulation, and long-term cognitive vulnerability.
Holixer has also been shown to reduce stress biomarkers, including cortisol by up to 66%, while improving perceived stress among study participants. These results reinforce a systems-based perspective on how sleep quality and stress regulation interact and suggest that botanicals may influence both physiological and cognitive outcomes.
“As the science around sleep continues to evolve, understanding how stress physiology influences sleep stability is becoming increasingly important,” said Lakshmikanthan. “Our research reflects a growing movement toward evaluating sleep quality through objective, clinically validated measures that capture how people recover and function the next day.”
While National Sleep Awareness Month in March elevates awareness around sleep health, the conversation continues into May’s Better Sleep Month, with greater emphasis on long-term sleep support. The clinical research behind Holixer™ contributes to this broader dialogue by examining sleep quality and stress regulation as closely linked aspects of overall health. To learn more visit Natural Remedies at: https://naturalremedieshumanhealth.com.
About Natural Remedies
With a history dating back to 1950, Natural Remedies is an internationally recognized botanical healthcare company focused on combining traditional herbal wisdom with modern science. The company develops clinically supported, high-quality botanical branded ingredients used in health and wellness products around the world. Its team of 45-plus scientists has published more than 230 research papers in peer-reviewed journals and contributed to global standards in herbal medicine. Natural Remedies is committed to safety, sustainability, and innovation across its entire supply chain and all ingredients are certified kosher and halal.
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