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\begin{document}

\title{Do plants need sleep and also have emotions? -- Medicinal plants,
lifestyle, and herbal cultivation}



\author[1]{Chunsong Hu}%
\affil[1]{Nanchang University}%


\vspace{-1em}



  
  \date{May 25, 2024}


\begingroup
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\selectlanguage{english}
\begin{abstract}
Since a magic ``polypill'' -- the
``Environment-Sleep-Emotion-Exercise-Diet'' intervention {[}E(e)SEEDi{]}
was discovered in 2018, it plays a pivotal role in control and
prevention of human disease due to improvement of immunity by healthy
lifestyle. It can be said that it is applicable, as long as one is a
human and survival. However, do plants also need the magic ``polypill''?
When plants need a suitable environment, rational internal exercise, and
balancing nutrients (fertilizers, herbicides, nutrients, pesticides, and
others), do they also need sleep? And have also emotions like humans?
These are interesting questions. Currently, obvious climate change
threats herbal cultivation in both China and the globe, in particular
the pandemic and post-COVID-19 era. Only when we understand and confirm
that plants also need sleep and have emotions, can we better protect
medicinal plants and promote herb cultivation and healthy growth, since
traditional Chinese herbs have a good efficacy in combating
cardiovascular disease.%
\end{abstract}%



\sloppy


\textbf{ECOLOGY LETTERS}

VIEWPOINT

\textbf{Do plants need sleep and also have emotions?}

\textbf{-- Medicinal plants, lifestyle, and herbal cultivation}

Running title: Plants, lifestyle \& HC

Chunsong Hu

Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Nanchang University, Hospital of
Nanchang University, Jiangxi Academy of Medical Science, Nanchang
330006, Jiangxi, China

From: Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Nanchang University,
Hospital of Nanchang University, Jiangxi Academy of Medical Science, No.
461 Bayi Ave, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi, China. Tel: (+86) 189 70816800;
Email: cnhucs@ncu.edu.cn or cnhucs@163.com

Word count: 1,598 (Main text) + 150 (Abstract)

References: 26

Table: 1

Figure: 1 Total pages: 12

\textbf{Correspondence}

Chunsong Hu, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Nanchang University,
Hospital of Nanchang University, Jiangxi Academy of Medical Science, No.
461 Bayi Ave, Nanchang 330006, Jiangxi, China.

Email: cnhucs@ncu.edu.cn or cnhucs@163.com

\textbf{Abstract}

Since a magic ``polypill'' -- the
``Environment-Sleep-Emotion-Exercise-Diet'' intervention {[}E(e)SEEDi{]}
was discovered in 2018, it plays a pivotal role in control and
prevention of human disease due to improvement of immunity by healthy
lifestyle. It can be said that it is applicable, as long as one is a
human and survival. However, do plants also need the magic ``polypill''?
When plants need a suitable environment, rational internal exercise, and
balancing nutrients (fertilizers, herbicides, nutrients, pesticides, and
others), do they also need sleep? And have also emotions like humans?
These are interesting questions. Currently, obvious climate change
threats herbal cultivation in both China and the globe, in particular
the pandemic and post-COVID-19 era. Only when we understand and confirm
that plants also need sleep and have emotions, can we better protect
medicinal plants and promote herb cultivation and healthy growth, since
traditional Chinese herbs have a good efficacy in combating
cardiovascular disease.

\textbf{Keywords:} climate change, emotion, herbal cultivation,
medicinal plant, sleep

Although it has a long history of more than 2000 years, with the
exception of acupuncture and moxibustion, there are still few clinical
studies and trials of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) or herbs
treatment of cardiovascular disease (CVD) published in international top
journals (Hao et al., 2017). From the past decade to now, there have
finally been some breakthroughs, for example, qili qiangxin capsules and
others for chronic heart failure (Li et al., 2013; Pan et al., 2023),
Wenxin Keli for arrhythmia (Hua et al., 2015), Tongxinluo for
cardiovascular protection in acute myocardial infarction (Xu et al.,
2020), and Chinese herb medicine for hypertension (Lai et al., 2022).
Moreover, the exact clinical efficacy of TCM has received wide attention
in the globe, in particular the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, TCM has been
highly evaluated by World Health Organization (WHO) due to a good
clinical efficacy, such as Lianhuaqingwen capsules.

Since a magic polypill -- the E(e)SEEDi was discovered and finally
published in \emph{European Heart Journal} in 2018 (Hu, 2018), it plays
a more and more pivotal role in the prevention and treatment of both
major viral infectious diseases (mVIDs) and major non-communicable
diseases (mNCDs) due to improvement of lifestyle and human immunity. As
a virtual pill, it covers ``the Essential 5'', that is
``Environment-Sleep-Emotion-Exercise-Diet''. And it can be said that it
is applicable, as long as one is a human, and as long as one is
survival. However, do plants also need the E(e)SEEDi-- ``the magic
polypill'' (Figure 1)? It means that when plants need a suitable
environment, a rational internal exercise, and a balancing diet
(fertilizers, herbicides, nutrients, pesticides, and others), whether
they also need sleep or not? And do plants also have emotions like
humans? These are interesting questions. In fact, ``crying crops and
chattering grasses'' are obvious emotional response of plants to their
own environments according to recent studies (Khait et al., 2023; Veits
et al., 2019; Marris, 2023), for example, ``water-stressed or injured
plants emitting high-pitched sounds''.\selectlanguage{english}
\begin{figure}[H]
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=0.70\columnwidth]{figures/image1/image1}

\end{center}
\end{figure}

\textbf{FIGURE 1} Do plants also need healthy lifestyle, the
E(e)SEEDi---a virtual pill? As we already known, as a virtual pill, the
magic polypill-- E(e)SEEDi includes the Essential 5
``environment-sleep-emotion-exercise-diet'', and it is applicable, as
long as it is human, as long as it is survival. However, whether plants
also need the Essential 5 or the E(e)SEEDi? This is an interesting
topic, which is worth studying, since it involves in whether plants also
need sleep and have emotions as human? Beyond question, plants also need
a suitable living environment and absorb nutrients like human diets.
Although most of plants have no external movement or exercise excluding
the power of the wind, their internal movement does not stop for a
moment. Herein, only when we understand and confirm that plants also
need sleep and have emotions as human, can we think that medicinal
plants also need healthy E(e)SEEDi lifestyle, so that we can improve
herb cultivation and growth.

As we know, current climate change (CC) has become the new normal in the
21th century. Unusual weather, such as typhoons, high temperatures or
heat waves, droughts, cold or freezing temperatures, blizzards and so
on, often happen unexpectedly. On the one hand, it is related to carbon
emissions from industrial and agricultural production; On the other
hand, it has to do with the greenhouse effect and global warming. CC not
only affects economic and social development as well as sustainable
growth, but also affects human health and accelerates the transmissions
and infectious-disease outbreaks (such as influenza A, tuberculosis, and
COVID-19) (Campbell, 2022). In addition, CC also seriously threatens
biodiversity and ecological balance.

In the past decades, the two giants, the United States (US) and China,
have conducted fruitful cooperation in the field of CC and achieved
remarkable results. For example, international climate agreement, carbon
neutrality and carbon peak, curbing emission action plan and other
agreements signed. However, due to the tension in the economic and trade
field, some of the relevant cooperation have been disturbed, and there
is still uncertainty in the future. The author thinks that the US and
China should continue maintaining a good cooperation in the field of CC
to effectively address the climate crisis and challenges. As reported,
``2022 will be the hottest year in the UK since the record, and the
duration of this year's extreme heat is relatively long. Besides, the
temperature of every month is higher than the average temperature of the
whole year except December.''

\textbf{TABLE 1} The innovative theory and program of ``TCM Hot Pot''.
``Bark-Flower-Fruit-Grass-Leaf-Nucleolus(seed)-Root'' {[}BFFGLNR{]} as a
new TCM compatibility and formulation for treatment and prevention of
human disease including both mVIDs and mNCDs.\selectlanguage{english}
\begin{longtable}[]{@{}llll@{}}
\toprule
``BFFGLNR'' & Single Ingredient for mild and moderate conditions & Pair
Ingredients for moderate and severe conditions & Three~Ingredients for
severe conditions\tabularnewline
Barks & B1 & B1 + B2 & B1 + B2 + B3\tabularnewline
Flowers & Fl1 & Fl1 + Fl2 & Fl1 + Fl2 + Fl3\tabularnewline
Fruits & Fr1 & Fr1 + Fr2 & Fr1 + Fr2 + Fr3\tabularnewline
Grasses & G1 & G1 + G2 & G1 + G2 + G3\tabularnewline
Leaves & L1 & L1 + L2 & L1 + L2 + L3\tabularnewline
Nucleolus(seed) & N1 & N1 + N2 & N1 + N2 + N3\tabularnewline
Roots & R1 & R1 + R2 & R1 + R2 + R3\tabularnewline
\bottomrule
\end{longtable}

Notes: Single, pair, three Ingredients of main candidates of traditional
Chinese medicine (TCM) for mild, moderate, and severe mVIDs (such as
COIVID-19 and other respiratory or lung infection) and mNCDs (such as
CVD, diabetes, and cancer, etc.), respectively.

In the last decade, TCM has received more and more attention and praise
in the globe. Particularly in 2015, the Chinese scholar Tu Youyou won
the Nobel Prize for the discovery of artemisinin (Stokstad and Vogel,
2015), and in recent years, the outstanding efficacy of TCM in fighting
COVID-19 was highly praised by the World Health Organization. For
example, there is an innovative theory and program of ``TCM Hot Pot''
(Hu, 2023), that is
``Bark-Flower-Fruit-Grass-Leaf-Nucleolus(seed)-Root'' {[}BFFGLNR{]}
(Table 1), it is not only a significant breakthrough in the principle
``Sovereign-Minister-Assistant-Courier'' of TCM compatibility and
formulation, but also a significant breakthrough in the clinical
application of TCM for human disease, including major virus-infectious
diseases (mVIDs) and major non-communicable diseases (mNCDs), creating
new theories and models for the TCM compatibility and formulation in the
new era. It better reflects the holistic view and big-picture thinking
of TCM syndrome differentiation and treatment, with more comprehensive
medicinal ingredients, more reliable pharmacological effects, easy to
learn, understand, and promote, and stronger operability.

However, planting industry in China, including the cultivation of
Chinese herbal medicine, is affected to some extent due to CC related
salinization, soil erosion and desertification (Tollefson, 2022). Due to
inevitable direct and indirect effects on ecosystems, long-lasting
effects of CC on pathogen emergence may link to the COVID-19 crisis
(Schmeller et al., 2020). Moreover, the global change in climate is one
of the major drivers of the emergence of zoonoses (Roberts, et al.,
2021), we need better tools for evaluating infectious disease emergence
and spread. In addition, since it is the new normal of both slow
droughts and flash droughts, and there are more flash droughts over 74\%
in the globe (Yuan et al., 2023), undoubtedly, global herbal cultivation
will be significantly affected.

Because there are definite population health effects from CC mitigation
actions (Hess et al., 2020), related guidelines are more comparable and
useful for evidence-based decision by policymakers. And since there are
the strong links between risk for pandemics, human-induced climate
change and biodiversity loss, innovative multidisciplinary solutions are
helpful to globe health and environmental change (Destoumieux-Garz\selectlanguage{ngerman}ón et
al., 2022), and developing innovative ways for pandemic prevention
including emerging infectious diseases and zoonoses would not only
reduce the risk of future pandemics but also provide a model for
prevention strategies (Woolaston et al., 2022). As a public health and
social investment, urban public green spaces have both social benefits
(job/food creation, biodiversity promotion, carbon sequestration) and
health benefits fighting against future pandemics (Geary et al., 2022).

As we all know, depression, in particular major depression (MD) is a
vital public-health challenge with a multifactorial etiology, there are
currently still lack of effective treatment. Since this disease can be
affected by unhealthy lifestyle, such as abnormal environment, sleep,
emotion, exercise, and diet, herein, improvements in psychological
health by ``the magic polypill'' (Hu, 2018), that is the E(e)SEEDi, is a
good strategy, such as Yoga. It is not clear or there is no research to
show whether plants are as emotional as humans, but it is clear that
medicinal plants can fight against human psychological stress and
emotional abnormalities, such as anxiety and depression, and improve
psychological health. In fact, plants-based polyphenols are good
candidate agents for the depression due to anti-inflammatory role. Thus,
to protect medicinal plants is also protection of human health.

Herein, there are several suggestions to strengthen the response to
international and local climate risks and challenges. First, attach
importance to the role of clean energy and green environmental
protection in industrial and agricultural production; Second, accelerate
the popularization and application of artificial intelligent in CC, such
as automatic driving and UAV for people's livelihood; Third, pay more
attention to the efficiency of policies and laws, limit and cut
emissions to the maximum extent, and formulate zero pollution standards.
Fourth, since both COVID-19 infection and CC are global health threats
(Negev et al., 2021), close cooperation for protection of the public
health is a vital step in the globe.

In addition, because there are high links among cultivation, scarcity
and price fluctuations in medicinal plants (Cunningham and Long, 2019),
and the microecology highly links to the growth and development,
metabolism process, and component accumulation of TCM as well as the
distinctive origin and quality of Dao-di herbs (He et al., 2020), thus,
the geographic information system for global medicinal plants is helpful
to introduction and cultivation of TCM (such as American ginseng) in
ecologically suitable areas (Shen et al., 2019).

In a word, these strategies and measures are conducive to reducing the
threat of CC to the herbal cultivation and helping TCM better serve
global health during the COVID-19 pandemic and post-COVID-19 era.
Because water is an essential element for human survival in the world,
and the human body cannot survive without water for a week. Due to the
continuous high temperature and drought for a long time, plants can not
grow normally without water. Therefore, current CC is a major hazard to
herb cultivation in both China and the globe. And people need to take
effective strategies for fighting against CC. All in all, both humans
and medicinal plants need water, in particular the ``magic polypill''.
And the E(e)SEEDi including water is the source of all life. A recent
study (Yamada et al., 2022) found that there are equations to predict
human water turnover, but not in plants. The daily water demand of
plants remains a question that needs to be answered and solved by
reliable experiments. Herein, only when we understand and confirm that
plants also need sleep and have emotions as human, can we think that
medicinal plants also need healthy E(e)SEEDi lifestyle, so that we can
protect and improve herb cultivation and growth.

\textbf{AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS}

The author contributed to the conceptualization of this viewpoint. CH
wrote the first draft and contributed to review, and editing.

\textbf{ACKNOWLEDGMENTS}

No specific funding for this study was received. The reviewers and
editors are gratefully acknowledged for critical review.

\textbf{DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT}

Data: No new data were collected for this study.

\textbf{CONFLICTS OF INTEREST}

No conflict of interest is declared.

\textbf{ORCID}

\emph{Chunsong Hu} https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0590-3909

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