This Supermarket Herb Moved Memory, Anxiety and Sleep Scores
A humble supermarket herb just posted some surprisingly broad results in a randomized, double-blind trial. In 68 university students, 1 g/day of rosemary for a month beat placebo on self-reported memory, anxiety, depression and most sleep measures. Only sleep latency and sleep duration failed to budge. But every outcome was a questionnaire, the study ran at a single center, and the abstract gives no effect sizes. Here is what the trial actually found, what it can't tell us, and how to try rosemary sensibly if you're curious.
The Kitchen Herb That Sharpened Stress Multitasking in an Hour
A humble kitchen herb just got a surprising lab-tested reputation as a stress-time brain booster. In a double-blind study of 30 healthy young adults, a single 600 mg dose of dried sage leaf improved multitasking performance and boosted alertness, calmness and contentedness. But the twist is that a smaller 300 mg dose cut anxiety, then lost that effect under stress and even hurt later performance. Here is how the acetylcholine angle works, what the results really show, and the limits and safety notes you need before you reach for the spice rack.